


Better Than You know

by happyaspie



Series: Beautiful Boy (Darling Pete) [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adopted Peter Parker, Adoption, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism Recovery, All The Bad Words... Most Of The Bad Words... There Are Bad Words, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Messing With The Canon Timeline, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bed-Wetting, Ben Parker Dies, Domestic Fluff, Don't Judge Me, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, Happy Hogan is a Good Bro, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Kid Peter Parker, Language, May Parker (Spider-Man) Dies, Mentions of Sex and One Night Stands, Nightmares, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Platonic Cuddling, Pre-Spider Bite Peter Parker, Precious Peter Parker, Separation Anxiety, Sick Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Swears, Tony Stark is a mess, Vacation, grief/healing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2020-12-24 06:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 55,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21094565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyaspie/pseuds/happyaspie
Summary: Tony learns about a young Peter by chance and for some unknown reason he ends up taking a liking to him and becoming friends with his guardians, May and Ben Parker.  Eventually, he is tasked with caring for nearly-eight-year-old Peter for a week but when the situation becomes tragically permanent, Tony has to pull himself together to be the man his friends saw in him rather than the man he sees in himself.





	1. In The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's the thing: 
> 
> I've been sitting on this one for like, two or three months. Seriously. I actually had to Copy and Paste to start a new draft to prevent it from being deleted. 
> 
> _Why exactly have I been sitting on it, you ask?_ Well, my friends, I would say a lack of confidence would be the main culprit. I love this story. I think it's awesome but it's also very not like anything else I've ever posted so that automatically makes me cringe.
> 
> The other thing is that I only have like, four chapters written out and that also makes me antsy. I like to be _WAY_ ahead before I post stuff. It's like this weird fear I have that I'll get brain locked and leave people hanging and they'll be upset and... I have anxiety issues, okay!
> 
> Anyway. Here it is. I'm going to post this first chapter before I talk myself out of it. *Takes a very deep breath and lets it out slowly*

Peter Parker was a smart kid. Smart enough to have gotten the attention of the one and only Tony Stark at the ripe old age of six and a half. He'd lied about his age in order to enter the Stark Environmental Conservation Design Challenge that meant for middle and high schoolers. When his concept was chosen he'd been found out, thus disqualifying him. Though not until after Tony had already laid eyes on it.

Being more than impressed that a mere child could come up with a clean energy solution that was far better than most of the twelve to eighteen-year-olds who had entered, Tony was intrigued. It was also worth noting that not one of the other entrants had made use of the Stark branded clean energy power source. How a six and a half-year-old was able to not only have a basic understanding of arc reactor technology but have the ability to conceptualize it in such a way as to power an electric car was astounding. Of course, he'd had the same idea in the past and had messed around with the concept but he wasn't under the age of ten.

After spending an entire afternoon looking up everything he could find on a child named Peter Parker he learned that the boy attended a math and science charter school in Queens, lived with his aunt and uncle and had won the State Science the year previous. After cleverly, infiltrating the school's backup computer system he learned that Peter was at the very top of his class and participated in several extra-curricular including, a small robotics club. In short, the kid was a fucking mini genius. One that from the looks of him didn't have near enough resources at his fingertips. From there, his intrigue became an obsession that eventually led him to the kid's front door.

After a shocked May and Ben Parker, finally, let him in the front door he began searching the room for any signs of the boy himself. "Where's the kid?", he asked after May had handed him a piece of shitty banana nut bread and Bed had poured him a decent mug of coffee. That was all fine and good but he'd come there to meet Peter and he had a tendency to get impatient.

"He's at school.", Ben explained kindly. He would have thought that would be obvious. It was two-thirty on a Friday afternoon in the middle of February. Then again, what would a genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist, know about, when elementary school-aged children got out of school. "He'll be home in an hour when the bus drops him off."

Somewhat disappointed that the kid wasn't there, Tony resigned himself to having a forced conversation with the boy's guardians until he was due to arrive. However, he ended up being rather surprised when the two adults proved to be far more intelligent and interesting than he'd first anticipated. In fact, he was pretty sure he could listen to them talk for hours on end. They were genuine and honest, unlike most of the people he currently surrounded himself with. He found himself actually enjoying their company. As such, the hour flew by and soon enough there was a little burst of energy, plowing through the front door with his mouth already going ninety-miles a minute.

"Uncle Ben! Aunt May! Guess what? I got the highest score on the reading evaluation. Even higher than Flash. Ms. Leonard said she would order some books to put in the library especially for me! Oh! ...and Ned wants to know if I can spend the night on Saturday. I promised we won't stay up too--", he rambled before freezing in place. "You're Tony Stark!", he squeaked out, once he'd rounded the corner to find a third adult in the room.

After that, he clammed up and Tony couldn't sort out why that would leave him feeling disappointed. Normally he couldn't stand the incessant chatter of small children. There was just something about this one that interested him. Maybe it was because he'd hoped that by listening to the boy talk he could decide for himself exactly how smart he was. According to his aunt and uncle, they'd never bothered to have the boy's intelligence tested. The evaluation was costly and they wouldn't be able to pay for him to go to any kind of private magnet school anyway. "In the flesh, kid. I saw your arc reactor powered car design. Who helped you with that?", he asked ignoring the fact that the child was nervously attempting to hide behind his uncle's legs.

Looking between his aunt and uncle for support, Peter took a half step forward and took a deep breath. "Um... nobody did. I uh, I, I read about your, your arc reactor online and, and then I thought that, maybe, it could, you know, power other things. I thought about trains first because I love trains but then, then I thought maybe smaller would be better. So, so I thought a car would be nice...", he started before going into a fairly sound explanation of his concept.

Tony smiled through the boy's stuttered speech because it was kind of cute which he instantly realized was a weird thought for him to be having because why the fuck would he think anything was cute. Especially a snot-nosed child. Then again, this particular child didn't look all that snotty and he'd just finish giving and explanation that he was certain some adults wouldn't understand. "You sound like a pretty smart, kid, Pete. What else have you got?", he asked mostly out of curiosity. He was somewhat surprised when the extremely shy-looking boy, carefully pulled away from his uncle and put his small hand into his. When the fingers weren't near as sticky as he'd imagined they would be, so he allowed it to happen _but he would definitely be washing that hand later._

"This is my room. I like to make things and fix things.", Peter said as he continued to hold tightly onto Tony's hand. "Come here, Mr. Stark. If you sit in that chair I can show you some of my other designs."

So Tony sat in the chair that had been pointed out to him and soon found his lap full of slightly crinkled papers. He glanced through them briefly and despite the fact that the majority of them had been drawn out in crayon, they were still slightly impressive. Most of them weren't nearly as practical as the car concept but they were creative all the same. Then when he got to the last page, he smiled but only for a second before the paper was being ripped right out of his hand.

"Oh! That's not one of my designs. I'm sorry, Mr. Stark! I, I don't know how that got in there.", Peter hurridly stated as he tried to hide the drawing behind his back all the while his cheeks and ears were growing a bright shade of red.

"No, no.", Tony replied as he set the other papers on the table beside him and tapped the top of the pile with his index finger. "I want to see it. Come here, kid.", he added in an attempt to get the flustered boy to approach him. What he wasn't expecting was for the child to then crawl up into his damn lap. His first instinct was to shove the kid off of him but then he saw the drawing again and his curiosity outweighed his initial discomfort.

"I drew this picture after Uncle Ben took me to the Stark Expo. I'm a much better drawer now.", the boy explained before pointing to various parts of the drawing for an explanation. "That's you after you saved everybody from the big robots. I drew a balloon in your hand because everybody likes to get balloons when they do something good."

"What about this here?", Tony asked as he pointed to a smaller red and yellow figure drawn by his side.

"Oh.", Peter replied as a blush crept back up onto his cheeks. "That's me."

"Hmm.", Tony said with a nod of his head before reaching under Peter's armpits and unceremoniously setting him back onto the floor before he had time to sneeze on him or pee or anything else of that nature. "It looks good, kid. Can I keep it?", he asked on a whim. He didn't even fucking know why. It wasn't like he was going to start putting artwork all over his fridge with those stupid little plastic alphabet magnets. He was Tony Stark for fucks' sake and those things did not fit into his life-style but he wanted the drawing all the same. Maybe he'd tuck it into a draw in his office to look at when Pepper was giving him a particularly hard time. It could remind him that at least somebody liked him.

When the boy handed it over, Tony folded it up and placed it into the breast pocket of the suit he was wearing before walking out the door and down the hallway to where Ben and May were waiting for them. He wasn't surprised this time when Peter's not-so-sticky hand ended up back in his. Apparently the kid was_ clingy_. "You guys's have a pretty smart kid on your hands.", he announced before making an impulsive offer. "Maybe you could all come by the Stark Tower and see the big arc reactor that runs the building sometime."

Peter nodded his emphatically and soon plans were made for the three of them to get a private tour by Tony Stark himself. A tour that led into dinner, which led to another dinner, which led to a Peter spending small amounts of time with him in his personal lab and eventually, as the year passed, spending near as much time in Tony's home as he did in his aunt and uncle's.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The first time, Peter ever stayed overnight with Tony was just a few months shy of the boy's eighth birthday and it was at the rigid insistence of his aunt and uncle. Apparently Peter's parents had died when he was four bringing him into their lives shortly after they were wed. They had friends but no one they could trust to take care of the kid for a more than a night or two so they'd never had the chance to go on any kind of a honeymoon. So when an opportunity arose for them to go on a cruise with a few couples from Ben's work, they declared Tony as the only one they trusted to keep their boy safe. "Come on Tony. You're so good with him and it would only be for a week. All you have to do it make sure he goes to school and eats on a regular basis and just so you know, if it's not you, then we aren't going.", May teased but she meant it. Tony would never understand what the hell they saw in him. How they never realized that he _wasn't actually good with kids_ and that Peter was literally the only child he would willingly deal with on a regular basis was a mystery to him. 

Though to be fair, he didn't just deal with Peter, he loved him. He loved the way Peter was so shy around new people that he could barely speak but would talk non-stop the moment it was just the two of them. He loved the way the kid's ears turned pink when he all got worked up or flustered and how he was always wanting to put his hands around his waist in a tight hug when they parted. He'd even come to love the way his refrigerated looked, plastered in drawings and brightly colored goddamned star magnets but none of that made him feel prepared to be a fucking twenty-four-seven caregiver. Not even for a few days, let alone a full week. "May... I've never been alone with him for more than a few hours. I'm not a parent. I don't know anything about getting kids ready for school or feeding them or putting them to bed. This--"

"--Oh Stop it, Tony.", May said with a smile and Bed chuckled beside her. "We'll write you down a few instructions, you can call us if you need clarification and I'll make sure the school and his pediatrician know that you're watching him for the week."

When Tony continued to look at them skeptically, Ben, in all of his wisdom knew exactly what to say. "Tony, you don't have to be a parent to know how to take care of Peter. You just have to love him. That's all we've done, May and I. We had no idea how to do any of those things either but when his parents died... we took him in any way. We literally figured it out as we went along. You can too. We all know you love him.", he said and then paused to reach out and tap the arc reactor that was glowing beneath his shirt. "...and if you can figure out how to create that fine piece of machinery there in your chest then I'm certain you can figure out how to take care of our little boy."

Looking into the eyes of the two people who had so quickly entered into the ranks of his most trusted friends, Tony sighed. "Fine. I'll take him for the week but only if you write me up some sort of lengthy manual on how to operate that thing on an around the clock basis.", he grumbled half-heartedly before he felt May wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You're the best, you know that?", she said so genuinely that it made Tony feel uneasy. He was pretty sure he was _not the best_. His other friends made sure to point that out to him on a regular basis as he continued to drink too much and sleep too little. 'An irresponsible asshole' "I'm pretty sure both Happy and Rhodey would disagree.", he said knowing that they were right and that all of that shit was going to have to change, at least for the week. He wasn't going to subject Peter to his tired, drunken self and while he knew he would probably never be the best, he could do his damndest to be better. For Peter, the only super smart, non-gross kid he'd ever had the pleasure of meeting.

"You're a better man than you know, Tony. Thank you for doing this for us. You're a good friend.", Ben added before they were parting ways, leaving Tony exactly four days to transform one of his empty guest rooms into the perfect bedroom for a seven-year-old boy.

As promised, Ben and May dropped by the day before Tony was meant to pick up Peter with several sheets of instructions stapled together into a small book. As he skimmed through it, he began to panic. "He wets the bed?", Tony asked in horror as he made his way down to that particular gem. Aside from a couple of close calls when the boy had been too shy to ask where the bathroom was, he'd assumed the kid was completely fucking housebroken.

"Not all the time anymore but it still happens occasionally. It'll probably be fine but I thought it would be better to give you a heads up.", May replied as if cleaning up piss in the middle of the night was no big deal.

Except it was a big deal. It was a very big deal. Mostly because even after a year and some change, Tony'd still been thoroughly convinced that Peter was the only kid in the entire universe that he would consider clean enough to actually touch. Hell, as far as he could figure the kid was a bit of a neat freak. There was a day just a few weeks back that the boy had adamantly insisted on changing shirt after a tiny bit of ketchup had dripped from his hotdog onto his chest. He couldn't imagine what sort of reaction would come after making a mess _like that_ and he sure as shit didn't want to clean it up either. "Are you sure this a good idea?"

"Absolutely.", both May and Ben laughed out in unison before urging Tony to skim through the remainder of the list.

Deciding that he'd already made a promise and there was no getting out of it without majorly disappointing two of his few genuine friends, he sighed. They were right, it would be fine. Fucking fabulous even. It was only a week and surely there would be no occasional bed wetting in that short of an amount of time. So he read on, praying that there wouldn't be any more unpleasant surprises hidden in there.

As it were, the rest of the list was pretty straight forward. A list of times and phone numbers related to the school and a handful of other notes regarding suggested meal times and snack options. He read all the way up to the next to the last page, before he closed it back up and declared it to be sufficient. "Alrighty, I think I've got it. Happy's going to do the driving to and from school bit and I promise not to give him ice cream for dinner.", he quipped with more confidence than he actually felt but he was a fucking fantastic actor so no one had to know.

"Good. Then we're all set.", Ben said with a smile. "I've got his bags in the car and we'll take him to school in the morning. See you next Saturday, Tony. You'll do great."

Those would be the last words he would ever exchange with May and Ben Parker but he didn't know that at the time. If he had he would have asked a lot more questions, hugged them good-bye rather than shaking their hands and made a point of thanking them for trusting him, the piping hot mess that he was, with something so important as their child. He had no way of knowing that his life was about to be turned upon its head in one of the best and worst possible ways. As such, he instructed them to take care and went about the remainder of his day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...and there you have it. The next few chapters are longer (I think). I've stopped trying to keep a word count and am just going to end a chapter where it feels right. That too is new for me. I am strangely dependent on word counts... it's very weird and I'm trying to break that habit.
> 
> Well, someone is feeling chatty tonight. *ahem* My husband tells me I ramble when I'm nervous though so apparently it comes through in my notes as well. I'll shut up now.
> 
> Don't be shy... ramble back at me in the comments...
> 
> ...and now I'll really shut up...


	2. The Calm Before the Storm

Tony had been home for all of ten minutes when Peter came barreling into his living room with Happy right behind him. "Mr. Stark! Uncle Ben and Aunt May said I get to stay here for a whole week! Can you believe it?", Peter squealed as he plowed into Tony's legs and wrapped his arms around his middle.

"Oh, I can believe it alright.", Tony replied as he gently patted the kid's back. Then remembering that the kid had just been released from what amounted to a fucking cesspool of germs and gunk, Tony pulled away. "Go wash your hands and then we can talk, yeah?"

There were no questions asked before Peter took off down the familiar hall towards the bathroom leaving Tony and Happy alone in the living room. "Are you sure you can handle this Tony?", Happy asked with worry. He knew that Tony was good friends with the kid's guardians and that Peter had been to his house on multiple occasions just for the sake of being there but six days was an entirely different kind of commitment.

"Yes, Happy. I've got it under control. There's an instruction manual and everything.", he said as he gestured towards the packet that May and Ben had meticulously put together at his request. "How do you think I knew what time school let out, huh? ...and why do you think I have a bunch of bananas on my counter over there. For once n my life I know what the shit I'm doing."

Happy picked the book up and thumbed through it before huffing a laugh. "Say's here the kid likes any fruit except bananas."

"Ah, Damn it!", Tony shouted in frustration as he dropped his fists down onto the kitchen island. He'd never been in charge of feeding the kid much beyond the occasional lunch and half the time that ended being a shit hotdog from the cart on the corner. With that being the case he'd skimmed the page in the book about food and had JARVIS order a variety of things that had been mentioned. He must have gotten the damn will and will not eat lists mixed up at some point during the endeavor. "I knew there was something in there about bananas."

Happy was about to open his mouth to reply when Peter came bouncing back into the large open room. "That's a bad word, Mr. Stark. Uncle Ben says that bad words make you sound like you're not as smart as you are 'cause there are much better words to use than those.", he said while unsteadily climbing up onto one of the tall barstools by the counter.

"Yeah, like what, kid?", Tony asked unamused. He could totally hear Ben saying some kind of shit like that but having the kid repeat it to him was sort of unexpected. It was then that he realized exactly how much he held back whenever Peter was present. Apparently the boy had never heard him curse before and typically curse words made up at least a third of his shitty goddamned fucking vocabulary. 

"I don't know.", Peter replied with a shrug of his shoulders before rapidly changing the subject. "Can I have a snack? Aunt May lets me have a snack when I get home."

"Sure, kid. Have a... not a banana.", Tony replied as Happy practically giggled in the background.

"I don't like bananas, Mr. Stark. They're squishy and slimy. I only like banana muffins.", Peter explained as he stretched his hand as far across the counter as he could reach towards a bowl with apples in it.

"Yeah well, those are for Happy anyway.", Tony replied with a sigh, as he slid the bowl of fruit towards Peter's hand before he decided to try climbing up onto the countertop. Then waving a hand towards the door, he looked at his friend and half glared. "Happy, take your d-_-darn_ bananas and go. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

The remainder of the day was pretty easy because Peter's weekday routine left very few gaps to fill. Once Peter had eaten his snack and done his homework, there were only a couple of hours of free time and most of that was spent with Tony showing Peter around the room he'd set up for him. By him, he meant the interior designers he'd hired but the Star Wars theme had been his idea and he figured he could give himself at least a little credit. Maybe only about twelve fucking percent but, that was better than zero. Then by the time they'd been through every inch of the room and unpacked his clothes into the drawers, it was basically time for the kid to eat dinner, take a bath and get ready for bed.

Oddly enough, the getting ready for bed part was what scared Tony the most. Feeding Peter wasn't difficult. Since it was the first night, he went extra easy and let the kid order whatever kind of pizza he wanted, no limits but all Peter wanted was plain old boring extra cheese. No other toppings no special crusts, nothing but he was so excited about it that Tony didn't complain.

As for the bath, Tony was glad to hear the kid didn't need any help with, outside of how to work the faucet because it wasn't like the one in his house. When he followed the towel burritoed kid back into the bathroom he decided that rather than explaining how the various knobs worked he would just show him the easiest way to go. "JARVIS? Can you run, Peter here a bath?"

"Of course, sir. How warm would Master Peter like his water to be?", The AI asked with a hint of softness that Tony didn't remember ever programming. Then again, maybe it was his imagination. Instead of saying anything he gestured towards the smiling little boy in order to let him to answer. The kid knew about JARVIS but had never really interacted with him before. Usually, it was Tony asking the AI to do this or that while Peter watched with awe.

Realizing the Tony meant for him to answer, Peter hesitated. other than a greeting the AI had never asked anything of him before. It felt a lot like talking to a stranger and that made him nervous. "Um... not too hot but not cold. I want it in the middle.", he explained in childish detail but JARVIS seemed to know how to handle it all the same.

"Indeed, young sir.", the AI replied before having the faucet begin to flow a temperate stream of water. "Let me know when the water reaches an appropriate temperature and I'll make a note of it."

"This is so cool", Peter whispered to Tony as he stuck his fingers into the water and making various requests to get the water exactly how he liked it. "Like that JARVIS. That's good."

JARVIS began to fill the tub at the requested temperature and Tony stuck his hand in it out of curiosity. It was nearly frigid by his standards and he sort of wondered what the hell boy was thinking. "You sure, Pete? That's pretty cool..."

"I like it like that. Then it's you're swimming.", Peter happily announced.

Tony nodded his head even though it made no goddamned sense and started to leave the second Peter began to unwind himself from the large towel. He didn't need to see any of that. He was a lot of shitty things... a workaholic, an acholic maybe even a... whatever fancy word had been set aside for someone addicted to rough sex and one night stands. ...but he was not a fucking pedophile, so he averted his eyes and walked towards the door. "Well, no splashing. ...and I'm supposed to tell you to make sure that you wash your hair first."

"I know, Mr. Stark! I will.", Peter promised as Tony shut the door behind himself.

When Peter returned half an hour later all snuggled up in a pair of pajamas covered in little cartoon puppies, Tony smiled. "You ready for bed, then?", Tony asked but Peter shook his head and came a bit closer to where he was sitting on the couch with a tablet balanced on his knee. For a moment he just stared at the boy who had suddenly grown very quiet and he was starting to worry. The kid looked guilty and for some reason that scared the shit out of him. "What the matter?", he asked with a frown and then Peter's finger came up and went right into his fucking mouth. He'd never seen him do that before and he was just about to tell him exactly how gross that was when it happened, Peter started to cry. His didn't just sniffle a bit while his eyes watered as he had the time, he'd tripped over his shoelace and skint his knee, he was full-on sobbing. "What are you crying for?", Tony asked in near horror. He had no idea what to do in this situation. This was not outlined anywhere in the goddamned book.

But rather than answer, Peter finished crossing the room and climbed up into Tony's lap. "I'm sorry.", he cried as he continued to slobber all over the pointer finger of his left hand.

"Sorry for what?", Tony asked in confusion. He couldn't fathom what the kid could have done wrong in the bathroom. There was nothing in there that was breakable and he couldn't think of any other way the kid could have messed anything up short of getting some piss on the floor but even that, other than being disgusting, wasn't the end of the world. He hired people to take care of that kind of shit for him. A maid came in damn near daily.

Taking a deep breath Peter tried to explain. "I splashed water on the floor on accident and when I tried to wipe it up I slipped and the towel fell in the bathtub so now it's all wet too.", he said with remorse. The last thing Tony had told him was not to splash and he got the floor soaking wet.

"Are you hurt?", Tony asked because that was the only thing that he could come up with that might make the kid cry at the moment. A wet towel and a puddle of, thankfully just water on the floor was the least of his concerns. Not when he hadn't even had the kid for twenty-four-fucking-hours yet and he'd already potentially broken him.

"Huh?", Peter asked after removing his finger from his mouth and wiping it on the front of his pajama shirt.

"You said you slipped. Are you hurt?", Tony repeated but at the point, he was pretty sure the kid was just being dramatic. He wondered if all seven-almost eight-year-olds were like that or if he needed to sign Peter up for some sort of damn theater classes because crying over a puddle over water seemed a little over the top.

Shaking his head, Peter slid off of Tony's lap and hung his head so that he was staring at his toes. "No. I'm just really sorry that I got your floor all wet. You said not to and I did but I didn't mean to."

For a moment, all Tony could do was stare. Did the kid think that he was going to be mad about that? He'd been sort of messing with him when he'd said that. He had no idea the boy would take it to heart. Then again he supposed he'd never given the kid any kind of instructions other than the occasional, 'don't touch that' before. "It's fine, kid. I'm not worried about the floor. Let's get you to bed.", he said before another thought took over. "Wait... do you need to use the bathroom first?"

"I already did.", Peter supplied with confidence as he took Tony's hand and skipped down the hall. "Will you read me a story?"

Huffing a laugh, Tony shook his head. "I don't have in storybooks, kid."

"Oh. Well, can you make one up?", Peter asked without missing a beat.

Tony covered Peter up and laughed. "Sure. Once upon a time, there was a little boy who went to sleep. The end.", he said before reaching to turn out the side table lamp.

"That's not a very good story, Mr. Stark.", Peter replied with a frown.

"Yeah, well, I don't do stories.", Tony said seriously. Fiction wasn't something he did well. He liked facts, figures, and dependable data. Even as a child fairy tales hadn't really thrilled him. His creativity came from other forms of inspiration. That and his dad was a complete dick who didn't tolerate 'nonsense.' After that thought, he decided he was going to order the biggest goddamned storybook he could find and have it delivered the next day. Take that Howard.

"Mr. Stark!", Peter called out the second Tony started to close the door, causing the man to startle slightly. "I forgot my rabbit. It's in my backpack. Can I go get it?"

Tony nodded his head and waved the kid back into the living room to retrieve the small stuffed animal before once again covering him up. "Good-night, kid.", he said as he pulled the door closed, leaving it cracked so that a small stripe of light illuminated the room. However before he could get his hand off of the doorknob, Peter was calling him once again.

"What about a hug and kiss?", Peter asked innocently. As though asking Tony fucking Stark for a hug and a kiss wasn't completely _weird_. When he asked the 'why' as if he'd never heard such a request before, the boy actually laughed. "Because that's what you do at bedtime, Mr. Stark."

Wavering heavily, Tony finally sighed. "How about I meet you in the middle and give you a hug.", he suggested. He'd hugged the kid before. Many times, though admittedly each of those times had been initiated by Peter and not himself. He just hoped the negotiation didn't make the kid cry again. He wasn't sure if he could take any more of that shit and it had only been one day.

Then, when Peter wrapped his arms around his neck and whispered a quiet, "Good-night, Mr. Stark.", Tony actually smiled.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The remainder of the week had been an adventure, to say the least. He quickly realized that even after a year there was a lot he didn't know about Peter. For starters, he was a sensitive mess. He knew the kid was clingy but he didn't realize how much he actually cried. The boy had never really cried in his presence before but apparently it was a near-damned-daily event. Sometimes because he missed Ben and May but usually because he was feeling apologetic about something or another.

The other thing he learned was that Peter was not a morning person, getting him up for school had been like trying to get a damn cat to jump into a fucking fountain. Somehow he managed though. Mostly with threats of eating all the pop tarts but the point was the kid made it to school on time every morning and Tony considered that a fucking win.

Everything else had been pretty easy. The kid wasn't a terribly picky eater. There was a short list of foods he wouldn't touch due to their texture and most of them were easy enough to avoid. He didn't argue about bedtime and there had thankfully not been any 'occasional' bed-wetting at any point. However despite all of that by Saturday morning, Tony was more than happy that he would have his home back to himself by evening. He was pretty sure he'd earned himself an entire bottle of scotch and a night of guilt-free sex. He was just thinking about whether or not he wanted to have the scotch on the rocks when JARVIS announced that the New York Police Department was on the line wanting to discuss an urgent matter regarding May and Ben Parker.

For a few seconds, Tony just stared at the clock on the wall. The Parkers were due to arrive to pick up Peter in less than an hour and he couldn't sort out why the police would need to talk to him about them. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. Something had to be wrong. The entire week had gone better than it had any right to go and now all of the shit was about to hit the fan. "JARVIS, be a dear and send that through to my home office. ..and keep Pete in his room until I'm done."

Sitting in his office, he could hear the officer on the line telling him in great detail how his two friends had been killed on impact when their car had been struck by a distracted driver but he wasn't listening. His head was spinning because there was no fucking way that could be right. They were supposed to come to pick up Peter. Then another pang of hurt crashed down on him. Someone had to tell Peter. "What about the kid?", he anxiously spat over whatever the police officer was saying to him.

"Sir, that's what I've been trying to tell you.", the woman on the line said patiently. "After some investigation, we realized that the Parkers had left Peter in your care for the last week and we were hoping he could stay with you until it can be sorted out, whether or not they had any long term plans for him in the event of their demise. " Tony knew there probably wasn't and it made his heart clench. They had told him in no uncertain terms, multiple times over the last few weeks that he was the only one they trusted with Peter for more than a night even though he still didn't know why. 

Tony all of a sudden found himself right at the very edge of a panic attack. He wasn't worried about where Peter would go at the moment. He was terrified about who was going to have to tell the fragile little seven-year-old that his only living relatives were gone. "Who's going to tell him? I can't tell him. What the fuck am I supposed to say? Shit. He's going to cry.", he rambled into the receiver.

"If you'd like we can send someone over to assist.", the officer started before adding some firmness to her tone. Just enough to snap Tony out of his head long enough to answer. "...but I need confirmation as to whether or not Peter can remain in your care for the time being."

Taking a moment to breathe, Tony closed his eyes and counted to ten. "Yeah. That's... he's fine here. Got his own room and everything.", he said before swallowing down the ache in his chest that was trying to replace the panic. He didn't want to feel any of those things right now. No hurt, no pain, no panic.

"Do you want an officer to come by?", she returned kindly after allowing Tony another minute or so to calm.

"No.", Tony said as he remembered his own parent's death. He'd been twenty-fucking-one and away from home at the time. Jarvis, the real Jarvis, had called him to tell him that he needed to come home, that his parents were gone. It had been hard enough for him as an adult to hear that kind of information from someone he loved, he couldn't imagine what it would have been like to hear it from someone he'd never met and Peter was afraid of strangers. "That'll just scare him. I've got it."

The woman then took a moment to rattle off a few websites with information on grief in children along with some other more specific information about who to contact about May and Ben's remains and what steps would be taken next to ensure Peter's care and to give him a list of emergency numbers in case he decided that he was no longer able to take care of him. "Someone from child services will be in touch.", she said right before the called ended.

After that Tony sat at his desk for no less than five minutes as he tried to weigh what he was supposed to do next before deciding that whatever he was supposed to do he couldn't possibly do it alone. "JARVIS? Get Happy up here.", he demanded before running his hands over his forehead and closing his eyes because this could not be fucking happening.


	3. At the Bottom of the Bottle

Before Happy had the time to get there, Tony was spirling. There were so many things going through his head at the moment that he couldn't sort through them all. He needed a drink. A drink would shut his head up for five fucking seconds so that he could think. So that's what he did. He had the cabinet unlocked and a full glass in his hand when Happy walked in the door.

"Tony?", Happy cautiously inquired as he watched his friend empty the cup in one long swig. While the wasn't terribly unusual, he knew the man had sworn off all alcohol for the duration of Peter's stay and for all he knew, he had done so. "Did they already pick the kid up?"

"Nope.", Tony replied while refilling the glass, only to abandon it and bring the entire bottle to his lips instead. "They're not coming.", he said without explanation once he had to relinquish the bottle to take a breath.

Happy's face quickly went from cautious to concerned. "Where is he?.", he asked but when all he got was a vague gesture towards the door, he lost it. "Tony! Where is the kid? What is going on with you? If you can't handle this shit anymore then I'll call them and take him with me until they get here. Jesus Christ!"

"That's the thing Happy! They aren't coming. You can't call them. They're gone.", Tony snapped as he swung the open bottle around in the air, sloshing it haphazardly onto the desk.

"What do you mean they're gone!", Happy shouted in return. The obscure answers were getting on his nerves and frankly, he hadn't seen Tony quite like this in a while. "Like, missing? Should you be looking for them? You're Iron Man for Christ's sake. You could probably track them down in minutes."

The room went silent as Tony leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. "They're dead, Hap. Happened this morning. Car wreck. They asked me to keep the kid until they can track down a will or some shit. I already know there's not one.", he said before opening his eyes back up to look at his friend. "He has no other family and, well, if that doesn't just sound _fucking familiar_... What the fuck do I do?"

Finally having a clear concept of what was going on, Happy sighed. "The first thing you do it put that bottle down. You can't do anything if your drunk off your ass. You're going to scare him if you're like that.", he said as he went to remove the bourbon from Tony's loosening grasp. "I'm assuming you spoke to someone. What did they tell you to do?"

"Nothing. They gave me a few websites about child grief and a few phone numbers. Child Sevices is going to contact me at some point. I don't even know what about. To try and take him I guess.", Tony replied before dropping his head down onto the desk with a groan as his heart rated stated to pick up all over again. "God, Happy... he's going to be terrified. He's going to-- fuck..."

"Tony, stop. Breathe. We'll sort it out. You can call your lawyers and they can probably tell you everything you need to know. Make sure the kid still gets to see you and all after he's settled into a home.", Happy suggested as he went ahead and sat down in the high backed chair across from the desk. He knew that despite Tony's reservations he and Peter where close. He was close with the entire Parker family, really. He seemed to have dinner with them at minimum once a week and he had the kid at his house or the office almost as often.

Tony sat up and glared at the suggestion. "What? You think he's going to go with strangers? Have you ever even met him?", he sarcastically spat. "It was hard enough getting him to talk in front of you. Do you not remember that?"

"Well, what's your plan then, Tony! Because doing nothing isn't an option!", Happy snapped back with a glare of his own.

"Not to send him away!", Tony blindly reasoned. He had no idea if that was even possible. The kid staying with him was probably a terrible idea and he knew it but he couldn't imagine handing him over to anyone but May or Ben either. "We're doing fine!"

"Oh, yeah, just peachy. Look at you.", Happy said much more calmly this time. "It's eleven o'clock in the morning and you're on your way to be plastered with a seven-year-old just down the hall. If that's not the definition of 'fine', then I don't know what is."

"I think this is justified!", Tony argued as he stared at the abandoned glass of amber liquid. Surely one more would hurt.

"No, it's not, Tony!", Happy returned in frustration. "I get it, you're in shock, you're grieving too but if you think you're going to want to have Peter stay with you then your going to have to find a much healthier way to handle it. Now, go clean up and meet me in the living room. You can't keep putting this off. You have to talk to the kid."

All Tony could do was nod because like it or not, Happy was right. So he trudged off to his bedroom to brush his teeth and shower away the evidence of his early morning booze. As he did so all he could think about was his own father, Howard... God, he wouldn't be like Howard. Then memories of fucking Obediah Stane crossed his mind and he wanted to vomit. He definitely wouldn't be like him. If anything that was one major reason for him not want to let Peter go. What if he ended up with someone _like that_. Someone volatile and manipulative... Then it occurred to him that he had been labeled similarly in the past. He finally had to give up on that line of thought because the fact was, he wasn't going to be _good_ at taking care of Peter but he felt utterly confident that he could do _better_ than either of them. All he had to do was to not be like Howard and not be like fucking Obediah.

Then JARVIS's voice rang through the room to remind him that Happy was waiting and his memory was filled with all of the kind words and gentle guidance the real Jarvis had offered him growing up. He shook his head at the thought. He couldn't be like that. He wanted to believe that he could but he was certain that he couldn't. Maybe he could get somewhere in the middle if he tried hard enough. Not Howard. Definitely not Obediah. Kind of like Jarvis. After that, there were a few deep breaths before he entered the living room where Happy was waiting with the large storybook Tony had purchased earlier in the week in his hands and Peter by his side.

"Happy said that we need to talk.", Peter said sadly as if he'd already assumed that the nature of said talk would be anything but pleasant. "Am I going to have to stay here one more night? Are Aunt May and Uncle Ben going to be late?", he asked innocently making Tony's jaw clench as his heart dropped to his stomach. '_Kind of like Jarvis_', he told himself before opening his mouth.

"Something like that, kiddo.", Tony said just as sadly. "You're uh, you're going to be staying here for a while. Your Aunt and Uncle, they were... Well, they were in an accident.--"

"--Did an airplane crash?", Peter asked with wide-eyed horror even though he knew that his aunt and uncle weren't ever on a plane at all. "When my mommy and daddy's airplane crashed, Uncle Ben said it was an accident."

At this point, Tony had to fight back his own tears, which was fucking annoying. He hadn't cried in earnest in, well, years. He was actually surprised that his body remembered _how to produce them_. "No, Pete. They were in a car wreck this morning.", he said before taking a deep breath and avoiding looking at the frightened little boy across from him. "They didn't make it. They..."

Where Tony's words trailed off, Peter's picked up. "...They went to Heaven didn't they, Mr. Stark. Like my mommy and daddy."

Peter's voice was so small and so broken that Tony didn't want to fucking acknowledge him but he could see Happy's eye boring into him so he did it anyway. "Yeah, kid. I'm so sorry.", he finally responded with an obvious crack to his voice. It was suddenly real. His friends were fucking gone and all that was left of them was the small child sitting before him. When that small child left Happy's side to climb up into his lap a wave of protectiveness came over him that made him feel like it was his duty to protect the kid. He just didn't know if that meant from his home or from afar because opposing thoughts were still mingling together within him. As he held Peter close, he didn't want to let him go. His heart was telling him that the boy was right where he was supposed to be all the while his mind what tell him quite the opposite.

For the first time in his life, he felt like one of those stupid ass cartoon characters with an angel on one shoulder while a devil sat on the other. Whispering mixed messaged into his ears. He wanted them to shut the fuck up and he knew how to do it but the locked cabinet was going to have to wait. He still had a crying child on his lap and that child was going to have to be his priority. Glancing down at Peter's bright red tear-streaked face he sighed and began to rock him back and forth. He could wait. Then he could quiet his head without the guilt of little prying eyes.

The remainder of the day was spent consoling Peter. Rocking him in his arms, begging him to eat and counting down the minutes until he could put him to bed. He needed time alone. However when the typically compliant boy refused bed for the fifth time, Tony put his foot down. "You have to go to bed, kid!", he finally snapped. It was past ten and the liquor cabinet had been calling this name for hours. Then when Peter flinched, he sighed. '_Not like Howard_', he told himself as he softened his tone. "You need to sleep. It's time to get in your bed."

He could hear Peter crying into his pillow once he'd shut off the lights and he tried his damndest to ignore it. Hoping and praying the boy would wear himself out in a matter of minutes. When that didn't happen he peeked in on him once more before going for the scotch he'd been thinking about without end all day long, downing glass after glass until he was unsure if the crying from down the hall had stopped or if he'd just finally drank enough to drown it out. 

Feeling suitably numb, Tony flopped down into his favorite chair. Glancing beside him, he found the instructions that May and Ben had written out for him the week previous. Flipping through it, he realized he'd never made it to the last page. He didn't even know if there was anything on it. The previous paragraph seemed rather final but when he turned the page he saw a handwritten note scrawled across the paper. 'You've got this, Tony. Take care of our boy. See you soon. -Ben'

Those words should have been comforting but all they did was make Tony feel guilty because he _didn't have this._ Maybe he had it for a few days but now he was drunk just like he fucking promised not to be but it had been necessary. That's what he told himself anyway and then he scooped up the book along with his empty glass and threw them both across the room, the glass shattering into a million pieces as it hit the wall. Then in one sobering moment, he realized that Peter was standing the hall behind him still crying. Or crying again. He wasn't sure but seeing as it was now nearly four in the morning he could only assume that the boy had slept at least some. "What are you doing up, Pete. I told you to go to bed.", he said trying and failing to keep the lingering aggravation out of his voice.

When Peter covered his mouth to quiet his own cries, Tony sighed and flipped on another light, squinting in the blinding brightness. Once his inebriated head adjusted to the new light level, he looked the kid over and realized he was wet from the bottom of his shirt to his knees. Of all nights, tonight had to be the goddamned 'occasional' ones. It was karma, it had to be. He'd intentionally gotten drunk knowing that he had a kid he was supposed to be responsible for was right down the fucking hall. "Shit, he said without realizing he'd even said it out loud. Not until Peter started apologizing anyway.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I didn't mean to. I forgot to go pee before bed and, and I had a bad dream and... _I'm sorry._", the boy cried with fear shining in his eyes and all Tony could think was that he must be a fucking sight right now. His hair tussled from pulling at it, his eyes glazed over from booze and he was nearly fucking certain he wouldn't be able to walk straight at the moment if it wasn't for the adrenaline that was creeping up and telling him what a screw up he was already.

"It's fine, kid.", he said with surprising ease as he walked towards the crying child. Though once he got to him he wavered. While the manual had mentioned the bed-wetting it hadn't actually said what to do about it and his hazed brain was having trouble coming up with a plan especially when the kid was still fucking crying. God, he felt like an inept dick. 'Okay, think Stark, think.', he told himself as he covered his ears and stared at the ceiling. Then, as if by some fucking miracle, JARVIS pipped up to assist.

"If I may, sir.", the AI quietly spoke. "I believe that young master Peter might enjoy a quick bath and a change in clothing"

Tony rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to growl to himself. Of course, a bath and a fucking change of clothes. He was a goddamned genius and a fucking artificial being had to tell him that he needed to get the kid clean? "Yeah... uh, come on, Pete. Let's get you out of those clothes.", he said with more clarity than should have been possible after drinking half a bottle of scotch. Then again he wasn't exactly a light-weight. Maybe really had sobered some in the last twenty minutes. Probably not but it was a nice fucking illusion to operate under.

After setting Peter up with a new set of pajamas, Tony left the bathroom so the boy could wash up on his own. Demanding that JARVIS wake Happy up and get him to the penthouse pronto because he suddenly had no goddamned clue what he'd been thinking when he'd agreed to keep the kid there. Having one of his best friends living in the same building was sort of a fucking gift at the moment because he could use some back-up.

Happy made it to the door in some sort of record time, looking disheveled and half-asleep. Tony almost wondered what exactly he AI had said to him. Almost. He had more important things to deal with at the moment. Like a bed covered in piss. "Glad you could make it, Hap. We've got a problem here."

"Is the problem that you're drunk?", Happy asked as he attempted to run his hands through his hair to make it lay flat. "...because I thought we already talked about that."

"We did.", Tony replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I chose to ignore you. It's pretty par for the course, don't you think?"

"This isn't a joke Tony!", Happy snapped. "Is Peter asleep?"

Tony dropped down into the recliner and examined the half-empty bottle beside it. Part of him wanted to pick it up and guzzle it down while the other part of him knew better so for the time being he didn't. Besides Happy, being the kill-joy that is was, would just take it away from him anyway. That and now that he was sitting again he could feel the effects of the alcohol settling in his head. In fact, he didn't even notice when his friend left the room. He just sat there and continued to stare at the bottle for some unknown amount of time until he heard Happy talking again but this time with a softness to his voice. "Hey, kiddo... What happened, huh? It's really late... You should be in bed...", he heard him saying and realized that Peter must have come out of the bathroom. Another wave of guilt washed over him as he allowed Happy to be the one to take care of him rather than himself.

"Alright, I got him sorted for you.", Happy said when he returned several long minutes later. "I changed his sheets and tucked him in. He's still pretty upset. Said you were mad at him."

"I wasn't mad at him.", Tony tiredly replied. He wasn't the least bit mad at Peter. He was mad at Ben for believing that he had it in him to take care of the kid. He was mad at himself for believing that Ben was right. He was mad at the driver who had taken his friends' lives. He was just fucking mad in general. Just not at Peter and as he sat there mental ticking off every damn thing he did have to be pissed about he didn't realize that Happy was now standing by the wall that the liquor glass had shattered against.

"Not mad, huh? ...because it looks like you had a goddamned temper tantrum in here.", Happy strained as looked at the small fragments littering the floor and the damp tracks where what was left of the remaining liquid had rolled down the wall in rivulets. 

"So what if I did!", Tony shouted in response only to have Happy come barreling towards him to grab him by the shoulders.

"Lower your voice, Tony.", Happy spat with venom. "The kid's had a shit day and his night's not gone much better. ...and I've got a news flash for you. _This isn't about you_. If you're going to have the kid here then you can't sit here and act like the arrogant ass that you are. He needs you. He needed you tonight and you were too caught up in your own shit to help him. _You can't do that Tony_!"

For several long moments, Tony stood there and let those words wash over him. At first, all he could do was stare because how the fuck was this not all about him? He was the one having the dilemma here. He was the one agonizing over what he was meant to do with his best friends' kid. Then Ben's words went through his head like a damn freight train. Something about not needing to be a parent to know how to take care of Peter. That all you had to do was love him. He remembered the man tapping his chest and telling him that if he could figure out how to create that piece of machinery then he could figure out how to take care of a little boy and fuck he wanted to believe that was true. "What the fuck am I doing Happy?", he finally uttered. The pain he'd been avoiding was coming back full force. "I can't take care of this kid. God, I want to but I'm a mess. I'm a piping hot fucking mess. I'll screw it up."

By then, Happy had located the papers Tony had tossed across the room along with the cup and was looking at the scrawled out message from Ben. "You are but it looks like the kid's uncle had some sort of faith in you.", he said with a half-smile as he shook the remaining bits of glass off of the booklet. It was clear that both Ben and May had seen _something_ in him. Probably that stupid look he got on his face whenever the kid did something particularly smart or endearing. It was obvious to everyone that Tony cared about Peter.

"It was misguided faith I assure you.", Tony grumbled back. It was hard to see the good in himself when he felt so utterly bad. For someone with an ego the size of Europe, he was having no problem finding ways to put himself down at the moment. 

Happy looked at him skeptically and sighed. "Was it?" 

"I don't know...", Tony returned with a hard swallow. He hated the way the liquor was making him feel vulnerable this go around. Typically it had the exact opposite effect. Made him feel like he was fucking invincible or some shit but this time was different and he was a wreck. "...Was it?", he asked in a way that sounded far too much like he was asking for real honest-to-god advice then he would ever admit.

Smiling softly, Happy closed the distance between himself and the chair where his friend sat, looking five seconds from breaking and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look. I know you lost something today but so did Peter and you're all he has left. You're who May and Ben trusted him with and now you have a decision to make. Are you or are you not, going to step up because that social works going to be calling you Monday and you should probably have some sort of a plan."

All Tony could do was stare because that wasn't fucking fair, _asking if he was going to step up or not_. Happy was making it sound like this was some kind of fucking challenge and walking away from a challenge was not something he did. He was a survivor. A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist. A fucking superhero. He didn't have the luxury of over-thinking shit. He had to just figure it out because sometimes you gotta learn to run before you can walk and all that jazz. Besides, he'd been doing it for a week and had it under control. He just had to _keep doing it_. That was it, keep moving forward.


	4. Hold Me Close

Happy ended up staying in the penthouse for a quite a while longer. Unwilling to leave until he was sure that his friend was both marginally sober and considerably convicted to stay that way. 

Once he was left alone in the living room, Tony sighed and strode into the bedroom where Peter was still sleeping despite the fact that the sun was just starting to creep in through the windows. He was laying there half-covered by the duvet and a ragged-looking stuffed rabbit tucked under his chin. He stood there and stared at him for a while before turning around to exit. However before he could get too far, he heard the boy slur his name.

"Hey, kid. You don't have to get up or anything. I didn't mean to wake you.", Tony sighed out because he hadn't. He wasn't even sure why he was in there in the first place. It was probably fucking creepy to stand there and watch someone sleep but for some crazy unknown reason, he'd felt the urge to do so. "It's Sunday, you can sleep in."

"Are you still mad at me?", Peter asked with so much hesitancy and fear in his voice that Tony had to close his eyes for a moment to avoid witnessing the emotion on the boy's face. 

He never wanted the kid to be afraid of him, never. Then more guilt washed over him, leaving him to wonder if there was a threshold to how much guilt one person could manage without losing their shit completely. There wasn't a lot of time to consider that though, he had to say something. He was supposed to be the adult there, the caregiver and he never wanted to see Peter look or sound so scared of him again. _ He wasn't Howard. _ "I was never mad at you, kid.", he said with what little softness he'd come to posses over the last year.

Peter looked at him with relief before his face became more serious. Far more serious than any seven-year-old's face should ever look. "Happy said you were sad. Are you sad?"

For a moment all Tony could do was stare at him. Why the hell would Happy have told him something like that? He hadn't been sad... well, he had been but mostly he'd been fucking pissed. Though, when he thought about it, those two things seemed to go hand in fucking hand for him. Maybe that was something else he needed to work on. He'd add it to the growing list but for the time being, he nodded his head and focused on the boy in front of him. "Yeah, Buddy. I'm sad.", he admitted with more emotion than he'd meant to, leading him into briskly changing the subject. "You, uh. You should go back to sleep."

"I don't want to.", Peter replied and Tony wanted to laugh. He'd spent the last week fighting the kid out of bed every morning at seven and today he decided to be willingly awake before six. _ Fucking fabulous._ Apparently he was going to be starting a new day before properly ending the previous one. Not that skipping sleep was all that unusual. He could go for fucking days without so much as a power nap but this was different. There was no big project or breakthrough idea keeping him moving and he wasn't sure if he was suitably prepared for what the day might bring and the day did, in fact, bring a great many things.

Despite the fact that Peter had insisted he didn't want to sleep anymore he spent the majority of the morning practically draping himself over Tony no matter where he sat. Even in the recliner, the kid found a way to weasel himself into his lap and just as he was sure he was about to hit the fucking cap on how much physical contact he could handle in one day, JARVIS announced that Happy was on his way up with lunch. "Oh, thank God.", Tony mumbled under his breath as he attempted to run the boy out of his close proximity.

"Hey, you.", Happy said to Peter as he walked in the door carrying several bags from Burger King. "JARVIS said you haven't had any lunch. I thought you might be hungry."

Tony watched as Peter shook his head, saying that he wasn't and quietly raised his arms to be picked up instead. When Happy acquiesced he found himself feeling oddly jealous despite the fact that he'd been eager for the kid to get the fuck away from him not even three minutes prior. That, however, was a mystery that he was going to have to figure out later. Right now he needed to figure out how to get the kid to eat. He'd already refused breakfast. "Look, Pete. Happy got you the chicken nuggets you like and it looks like there might be a toy in here for you too.", he said as he spread the food out across the bar. When Peter declined, Tony sighed. "Come here, kid. You can sit in my lap, while I eat." Not that he was hungry either but he figured if he could choke down a few bites then maybe the kid would too and that maybe for once in his life, he could set an example. That would be fucking new.

Once Peter had made his way over, Tony readily placed the boy onto his legs before unwrapping a cheeseburger. When the kid eventually picked up one of the chicken nuggets and started to nibble at the corner, he'd wanted to pat himself on the fucking back. Even if the boy had done more yawning and tiredly laying his head against his chest than eating, it was something and he was pretty sure that congratulations were in order. 

While all of this was taking place, Happy was smiling stupidly at the two of them from across the bar. "So.", he said between fires, "What have you been up to today? Things going okay?"

That question sent Tony into his head while he quietly contemplated how he was supposed to answer that. He thought things were going okay. Not much had happened really. The kid had decided to get up entirely too fucking early, refused to eat and plastered himself to his side while he looked up the websites the police officer had recommended to him. Websites filled with information that sort of scared the shit out of him, really. They had mentioned things like irritability, crying, separation anxiety, aggression, and _bed wetting_ but he wasn't going to back down or anything. He'd already decided that he would see it through and if nothing else, he was fucking persistent.

"Hello. Earth to Tony.", Happy said with a roll of his eyes and a few snaps of his fingers. "Are things going okay? 

"Yeah. Just peachy.", Tony replied once he'd snapped back to the present. "Did some research and whatnot. I still have a shit-ton of phone calls to make but I've been... _occupied._", he added as he gestured towards the Peter who was still reclined right up against him. "All day, Happy. We've been like this _all day_."

Happy nodded in understanding. Tony wasn't the only one who'd done some research. He too had looked up some of those websites and had wondered, in passing, how much clingier the kid could possibly get. Evidently the answer was _a lot_. "Do you need anything. I could take him to my place for a while.", he asked as a way of offering his friend a few minutes of respite but was happily surprised when he wasn't taken up on it. 

Looking down at the sleepy child that was still melting into him, Tony sighed. "A nap. I'm pretty sure we could both use a nap.", he conceded, half-expecting Peter to argue but he didn't. He'd jokingly attempted to talk the kid into taking a nap in the past, mostly to get him to stop talking for a little while but it was always met with a resounding, _'I'm not a baby Mr. Stark_.' If the kid wasn't going to balk at it, he must be exhausted. "What do you say, kid? Bedtime?"

When Peter nodded his head, Happy smiled and started to clean up the mess of wrappers littering the table. "Well, I guess, I'll head out then. You call me if you need anything, okay? That goes for both of you.", he said and then looked his best friend right in the eyes. "Looks like you've got this.", he said with a small smile and then slipped out the door. 

"Alright, Kiddo.", Tony said as he shifted the kid towards his hip so that he could stand up without breaking contact. "Let's get you in your bed." His plan was to get the kid to sleep first and then take care of what calls he could take care of on a Sunday. Then maybe he would consider going to sleep for a little while too. However, it didn't seem like that plan was going to work because Peter was now squeezing his neck and hiding his face under his chin.

"Will you lay down with me?", Peter asked in a small muffled voice.

Tony's first thought was to say no fucking way. He had shit to do and the quicker he got it done the quicker he could go make himself comfortable in his recliner. Then he felt the way his neck was growing damp and realized the kid was crying, albeit silently. That led to a dilemma of sorts. The kid had a twin bed in the room that had become his. Something the interior designer had recommended but now he was regretting it. He couldn't imagine two people squeezing into that bed. Even if one of those people was a small child.

"Sure. ...but we'll go to my room.", he sighed out and the boy nodded his head. "Should you go pee?", he questioned next because he was about to put the kid into his own bed and he really preferred that it stay piss free. When the kid nodded again Tony carried him down the hall and deposited him outside of the bathroom so that he could take care of his business in the appropriate place before leading the kid across the hall

Then as they went through the large french doors that led into Tony's room, Peter stalled. "This is your bedroom?", Peter asked the second they had crossed the threshold. 

It had never occurred to Tony that he'd never shown the boy his room before. Then again there had been no reason to. That was his personal space. No one went in there, save for Pepper whenever she barged in after one of his more exciting evenings to drag him to some boring as shit meeting or throw a few papers at his face but that wasn't important right now. What was important was getting the kid to sleep like the responsible adult that May and Ben had apparently thought that he was.

"Yeah, Pete. This is my room. Go get in the bed.", he whispered as he nudged the kid forward and when Peter didn't move he became frustrated. "What is it, kid? I thought you were tired."

Peter shifted on his feet and looked up at the man behind him. "It's a really big bed, Mr. Stark.", he said with no context and Tony wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do with that sort comment. Of course, it was a big bed. He was an adult for Christ's sake. It wasn't like he was going to have a damn bunk bed in his room. 

"Yes, it's a big bed. What's the problem.", Tony replied with more irritation that he really meant to but he was tired as shit and had a million things running through his head all begging for his attention. All he wanted was for the kid to go the fuck to sleep so that he could knock a few phone calls off of the list. Then maybe he could come back and get some sleep before it was time to make another ineffectual attempt at coercing the kid into eating.

"You're going to lay with me, right? You won't leave?", Peter asked in a shaky little voice that pulled at Tony's heartstrings. ...and fuck, he didn't even know he had heartstrings until that very moment when he found himself easily giving in to the request to stay put. 

"I'm not going anywhere.", Tony replied as he followed Peter across the large room and climbed into the side of the bed reverse, Peter. However, once he had laid his head on his pillow and closed his eyes, he felt a little hand wrap it's self around his abdomen and his eyes snapped open. "What are you doing?", he strained as he rolled himself off the edge of the bed. "Your side is over there.", he added pointing to where the kid had been laying not even thirty seconds prior but when the kid's lip started to quiver at the rise in his voice he tried to ease the stress in his tone. "Pete. I don't... _What are you doing_?"

Peter shook his head and wiped at the tears that had escaped his eye. "When I get in Aunt May and Uncle Ben's bed, they snuggle me.", he whispered and it sounded so innocent that Tony sudden felt like a complete ass for reacting the way he had. The kid was seven for Christ's sake or course he wanted someone to hold him after everything that had happened. Hell, at this point he felt like an ass for sending the kid to bed by himself the night before. 

"Right.", Tony said almost sheepishly but Peter didn't seem to notice, he just continued to look at him with his huge sad eyes while fidgeting with the blankets. "I guess I wasn't expecting that so...uh... let's try this again.", he said as he carefully climbed back under the covers. Only this time Peter didn't even try to get near him. He stayed within arms reach but he didn't try to cuddle him again and for some stupid reason that made him feel like a horrible dick of a person all over again. "Come here, Pete.", he said as he held out his hand and waited for the boy to scoot back to his side and lay his head down on his chest, right beside where the light of his arc reactor was shining through his shirt.

After that Tony tried to relax but the kid kept fidgeting and it was getting on his last goddamn nerve. Just as he was about to say 'fuck it' and get up, Peter was trying to get his attention. "I need Jojo, Mr. Stark."

"Who?", Tony asked with concern. There was a tiny part of him that was concerned that this Jojo person was some sort of distant relative or family friend who didn't live nearby... someone who could potentially put an end to... whatever the fuck it was he was trying to do here and it actually made him nervous. He didn't know why. He should be elated at the prospect that there could be another, more _responsible_ adult in the kid's life. "Kid, who's Jojo?", he asked again when the boy didn't answer the first time. 

"My rabbit, Mr. Stark."

_'Oh_.', Tony thought to himself. The ratty stuffed animal had a name. Who knew? He supposed it shouldn't have come as a surprise. The kid _liked_ to name things. He had a plant in his office that Peter had _insisted_ on naming Henry. It was weird but he'd gone with it to the point of accidentally referring the damn thing as such when the cleaning lady came in to water it. _That had been a fucking delight_. "What do you need that for?", he eventually asked. 

"I can't sleep without my rabbit.", Peter casually replied and all Tony could do was stare at him. 

"You have Iron Man.", he returned flatly as he gestured towards the hand that was still resting on his stomach. Again, he didn't know why he gave a shit but he decided to blame it on the fact that he didn't want the nasty toy in his bed. Though that wasn't it either. The kid had carried it into the living room at some point and it smelled like laundry soap. May had more than likely made a point of washing it before they left.

Peter sighed and let go of Tony. "I want my rabbit, Mr. Stark.", he said simply and began to scoot towards the edge of the bed, where he paused. Assuming the boy was waiting for his permission before hopping down, Tony gave him the okay and rolled over onto his side to think. None of his reactions were making sense recently. It was like he simultaneously did and did not want to be responsible for Peter. Opposing thoughts were still pulling at him despite his resolution to keep the boy with him at all costs. Rhodey would probably accuse him of being scared and maybe he was. The kid wasn't quite eight. There were more than ten years until he was an adult and that felt like a huge commitment. Before he had time to really start dissecting all of that, Peter was back and pressing himself against his side. 

Before he knew it, Tony was waking up and blinking back at the ceiling of his dimly lit bedroom. He'd not meant to fall asleep like that. Let alone for so long. Looking at the clock beside his bed it was already after five. That meant he had been asleep for well over three hours. More so, Peter had been asleep for over three hours and was still lightly snoring on his back beside him. He considered leaving him that way because a sleeping Peter was a _not crying_ Peter but he figured if he wanted him to go back to bed in a mere three hours he should probably wake him up. 

As expected, trying to convince the kid to eat was like pulling teeth and after a while, Tony gave up. "Okay fine. I get it. You're not hungry. Will you at least drink some milk?", he asked in exasperation. The kid was skinny. Tiny even. He'd seen the class pictures, Peter was the smallest one in the grade and that made him worry. A singular chicken nugget and a few boxes of juice didn't seem sufficient because he was sure the boy couldn't afford to lose a singular pound.

"My tummy hurts.", Peter complained and Tony wondered if he needed to call Happy back up there. He didn't feel equipped to take care of a kid at all, let alone a sick one but it crossed his mind that it was probably nothing. Hell, he remembered feeling nauseous for days after he lost his own parents and he'd been far older than seven.

"What about juice then. You've been drinking juice all day.", Tony bargained and was at least marginally content when the kid agreed to that. Peter drank another juice box, while Tony ate part of a tuna sandwich and by the time they were done, it was already nearing Peter's established bedtime. Not knowing what else to do, Tony attempted to keep the boy on his routine and sent him for a bath. If nothing else it gave him a good half of an hour alone. Half an hour that he ended up having to convince himself that he didn't need to open up the fucking liquor cabinet. Him being stubborn as hell was probably the only thing that stopped him from doing it despite the fact that he wanted it so fucking badly that it literally _hurt_.

After his bath, Peter was adamant that he wasn't tired and Tony didn't feel like he could fight him on it. He'd allowed the kid to nap into the evening. It was his own fault and now he was left dealing with the consequences. That's how they ended up on the couch watching cartoons until after midnight when the boy finally fell asleep with his rabbit under his chin.

Transfering the kid into his bed while still sleeping ended up being unsuccessful. Peter woke up the second he was placed in his room. After no less than twenty minutes of quibbling that led to tears, Tony gave in and allowed the boy back into his own bed. Though it wasn't without reservation. He was somewhat worried that he was fueling some sort of bad habit. He'd never once been allowed in his parents' bed. Then again, he'd never tried. His dad probably would have had a fucking heart attack.

For Tony, being in his bed twice with a twenty-four hour time period was nearly unheard of. As such, he lay there awake for a long ass time staring at the ceiling and listening to Peter breathing against him and while he did eventually fall asleep himself he was woken up, what felt like, a few short hours later by Pepper storming into the room. _Well, shit._


	5. Shining Clarity

When Pepper came rushing into the bedroom already half-shouting, Tony startled awake, sitting straight up in the bed and throwing a protected arm over the equally startled child beside him. "Tony! I realize that I let you off the hook for a lot of things last week but that doesn't mean you can continue to skip meetings. I just had to explain to the entire board why I was there instead of you. There are only so many things I can do, Tony! I can't just run your company for you! You--", she shouted as Tony held the hand, that wasn't on Peter, up in an attempt to silence her.

"--Pepper!", he finally shouted to stop her mid-rant. Once she had grown quiet he gestured towards the lump under the covers beside him. "Stop it. You're scaring him!", he added through his teeth. While he realized he'd not actually thought to tell her what was going on, she had no right come storming into his fucking bedroom like that. Of course, she'd done it before and he never really cared but t_his time_, Peter was with him and that made it a very different situation.

"Oh!", she gasped quietly. "I thought you said he was going home on Saturday."

"It's a long story.", he grumbled before turning his attention to Peter, who was just starting to peek out from under the sheet. "Hey, Buddy. Why don't you go into your room for a bit.", he suggested but Peter didn't even try to move. He just sat there with a look of deep concern that Tony worried was about to turn into their first round of tears for the day. "It's okay. You're not in trouble. Look, why don't we have JARVIS call Happy and he can take you out to breakfast."

"I want to stay with you.", Peter whispered and Tony was certain that it was far too early in the morning to already feel like an asshole but he did because he was going to have to get the kid out of the room so he could talk to Pepper. Plus, he still had all of these fucking calls to make. Including a one to the kid's school seeing as he was apparently he was going to be missing the day. That had been in his instructions. Call the school if he was going to miss class. 

"JARVIS can you get Happy for me?", he sighed out towards the ceiling as he glared at Pepper from across the room. "Why don't you make yourself useful, Ms. Potts. Go start me a pot of coffee.", he then said with a smile, knowing that it would piss her the fuck off but he also knew that she wouldn't be willing to argue with him in front of Peter.

Not even an hour later, He was alone with Pepper in his livingroom. Peter had cried at the separation and at one point Tony had been worried that they were actually going to hurt him as they worked to pry his little fingers off of his neck so that Happy could take him. The entire ordeal had been more traumatic than he really wanted to admit but his friend had already texted him three times that Peter had been fine after a little while. Therefore he resigned himself to the conversation at hand and started from the top. It took him a while to get through the story and he couldn't decide if he was surprised or not that Pepper never once interrupted him. "So here, we are.", he finally ended and then held his breath as he waited for her response.

After several seconds of quiet contemplation, Pepper finally spoke and Tony let out the breath he'd been holding. "So, you're what...? Going to adopt him?", she asked in an unreadable tone. He wanted to say that it sounded supportive but there also seemed to be a hint of disbelief thrown in there and he couldn't seem to see past that.

"I don't know. Maybe?", he sighed out. "Nothing isn't an option and he wants to be here. You saw him. All I did was hand him over to Happy for a couple of hours and he lost his shit.--"

"--What about the drinking? _The women_? ...what about your job, Tony?", she asked calmly but Tony could feel a flare of annoyance rising in his chest. He already questioned every damn thing that he did. He didn't need her adding to the fucking list. He had to clench his jaw a few times before replying.

"I'll stop drinking. I'll stop having sex. ..._here anyway_. I'm not giving _that_ up completely but I can be more careful.", he explained with more ease than seemed possible considering the kind of promises he was making but the next words out of his mouth cause him not even a second of pause. "As for Stark Industries? I don't have time for that shit right now. You do it."

"I'm trying to do it. I'm--", Pepper snapped back in frustration because it felt like that's all she'd been doing for as long as she could remember. Between picking up the man's laundry and managing his public relations she'd been the reasonable one in every decision he'd ever made. Not that she always got through but there had been times where she wondered where Stark Industries would be without her standing behind him.

"--Well, stop trying and just do it.--", Tony interjected with a smile because god Pepper was gorgeous. Even when she was mad... but that thought was quickly interrupted when he realized that what he'd said seemed to just frustrate her more as she shouted his name. "What? I'm trying to make you CEO. Just hear me out!", he added when she looking like she was five seconds from storming out of the penthouse. At this point what Tony was trying to say must have sunk in because rather than looking pissed off Pepper now looked nothing but shocked and he decided to take that moment of quiet to drive his point home. "I'm making you, CEO. Look, I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries. Effective immediately. There. Done deal.", he spat out but when she continued to look at him as though he'd lost his mind he sighed and went on to explain further. "You know, I've actually given this a fair amount of thought. I can't keep dividing my time. I have Iron Man and now the kid too... I _need_ someone else to do _this_ for me and it's you. It's always been you."

Pepper continued to stare at him for several seconds trying to come up with the right words. It wasn't that she didn't think she could do it. She already knew that she could. Hell, she already was but it was still completely unexpected. Typically Tony wanted to be the one in control. Then again, maybe giving up control was his way of controlling it. "I don't know what to say?"

"You don't have to say anything. I would offer you a glass of congratulatory champagne but I have some phone calls to make.", Tony replied before walking casually towards the door. "Now, I'm sure you have about three-thousand papers to write up for me to sign, so I'll leave you to it."

Nodding her head, Pepper smiled and stood a little taller. "For what it's worth, I think you've made the right decision."

"About making you the CEO?", Tony asked with a quirk of his brow.

"Well, obviously but I meant... all of it. I've seen you with him. The kid, I mean. You're good with him. If you can keep your priorities straight, then I think you've got this.", Pepper replied with a smirk but she meant it. She had a few small reservations but she also knew that despite the fact that the man was all over the place, _he had a heart_ and was capable of making this work if he really wanted to.

Slightly taken aback by the woman's words, Tony smiled an almost flirtatious smile. "Why, Thank you, Ms. Potts."

"You're Welcome, Mr. Stark.", Pepper returned with pleasant formality and ducked out of the room before his deep brown eyes and enticing smile could get to her.

Several exhausting phone calls later, Happy was walking thought he front door with Peter's hand in his. "Hey, boss. We're back.", he called out when Tony didn't meet them at the door. Though, it didn't take long to find him. He was in his office with a glass of scotch sitting in front of him. "Tony...", Happy whispered in painful disappointment.

"I didn't drink.", Tony supplied, knowing exactly what his friend was commenting on. "I wanted to. God, I wanted to but I didn't. I couldn't.", he said as he lowered his hands from his head down onto the desk in front of him. He'd called the kid's school and the hospital to find out what he needed to do to take possession of May and Ben's remains. After that, he'd talked to his lawyer and that had been a fucking lot to take in. In fact, every single one of those conversations were enough to set him on edge and he was actually really fucking proud of himself for pouring the drink and allowing it to sit there on his desk untouched. Then with a tired sigh, he turned his head from the glass that was still calling his name and looked down towards Peter instead. "You good, kid?"

"Mm-hmm. Happy let me watch cartoons.", Peter said as he leaned heavily onto Happy's legs where the man stood behind him. He was probably still tired. They'd not gone to bed until late and Pepper had been in the room shouting before nine. He considered offering another nap but that had turned out to be a shit idea the last time and he really didn't need the kid to pick up his crappy sleep habits. 

"Did you eat any breakfast?", Tony finally asked and both Peter and Happy shook their heads. "Lunch?", Tony asked hopefully, seeing as it was already after two but again all he received was a sigh response. 

Happy dropped down into the chair across from the desk and shrugged his shoulders. "I tried.", he replied with remorse. "He had some orange juice and exactly three bites of macaroni and cheese."

"It's fine, Happy. Thanks for watching him.", Tony said as he pulled Peter up into his lap without even thinking about it. Taking that as a dismissal, Happy smiled slightly and slipped out of the room, leaving Peter and Tony to themselves. "You have to eat, you know that, right kid?"

"I'm not hungry, Mr. Stark.", Peter whined and Tony didn't know if it was because he was tired or just emotionally spent for the day. God knows he was. Maybe for the entire year. The phone call with the hospital, in particular, had taken a toll on his emotions. That and the constant worry that came after sending a hysterical Peter out his front door. Though he had to admit that those few hours of reprieve from Peter's constant physical contact had done him some good. Now that he was back, he actually found himself _wanting_ to hold him again. _It was weird._

Looking down at the little boy in his lap, Tony leaned in rested his cheek lightly on the top of Peter's head. "Look, what's your most favorite food in the whole world, huh?", he murmured into the deep brown curls. He half expected the kid's answer to be something along the lines of pudding cups or a milkshake and he was prepared to break every promise he'd made to the boy's aunt and uncle about not feeding him ice cream for dinner. Which is why the kid's answer took him by surprise.

"Shrimp...", Peter instantly replied and the response was so unexpected that Tony laughed and almost instinctively turned his head to press a kiss where his cheek had been. For a moment he wondered if he'd crossed some sort of line but Peter seemed completely at ease as he continued his explanation. "...The kind that you have to take the little legs off of but I can't do it all by myself. Uncle Ben does it."

Feeling a slight pang in his chest at the way Peter mentioned his uncle as if he were still alive, Tony took a deep breath and forced himself to sound far more cheery than he actually felt. "Well, how about we get some shrimp then?"

"It's not Christmas.", Peter replied with utter confusion. "You only eat those on Christmas, Mr. Stark. They're expensive.", he innocently continued, no doubt repeating something he'd been told at one point or another. He knew May and Ben had both worked hard to keep a roof over there heads. He also knew that they were adamant that Peter should learn to appreciate that hard work. They'd asked him not to spoil the kid with _things_ and he'd always obliged but he supposed there was no one here to stop him now and if Peter was willing to eat shrimp then damn it, he would get him all the shrimp he wanted, Christmas or not.

"I'm a billionaire, kid. I can buy you some shrimp if you want it.", he finally replied and to his surprise, Peter nodded his head in agreement.

By the time the early dinner Tony had ordered arrived, Peter was already half asleep on the couch. Though it didn't take much persuasion to get him to sit up and allow himself to be handed a few pre-peeled shrimp. Tony smiled with relief as the kid ate through what he'd been given and accepted a few more. Then just as he was about to allow himself to relax, he saw the tears welling up in the boy's eyes. "Hey, you're alright, kid.", Tony said as he reached over and used his sleeve to wipe away the stray tear but he felt like a fucking liar. The kid wasn't alright, he was..._ broken. _

As the word broken, slipped into his mind he closed his eyes because deep down he knew he was broken too. Maybe everyone was. Just some more than others but in one shining moment of clarity, he realized that broken didn't mean beyond repair. So, he took the crumbling child into his arms, held him tight and for the first time, they cried _together_. They cried for May. They cried for Ben. They cried for their lost parents, for each other and for themselves. They cried until neither of them had any more tears to give and Peter was sound asleep against Tony's chest, his breath still hitching every so often sobbing for so long. 

Leaning back on the couch, unwilling to disturb the sleeping child just yet, Tony wiped at his own face. He hadn't cried like that in years but it had actually felt good. It was cathartic and for the first time in years, he felt like a _human_. Confident in himself beyond arrogance and narcissism. A good kind of confident that made him feel like he could actually fucking do this. Like he was going to be okay and because of it, so was Peter. 

Happy was right. Pepper was right. Ben and May had been right. _He had this_. Then with a deep breath, he woke Peter up, got him ready for bed and didn't even hesitate with the boy requested to not be left alone. They could work on that later if need be but right now, if the kid wanted to be held, he would make sure he was there to hold him.


	6. Separations

The next week was an absolute cluster fuck. Peter started going from quiet and clingy to quiet, clingy _and_ downright defiant in a matter of days. The hurriedly arranged funeral had been a huge goddamned disaster but not just for the obvious reasons. Peter had gotten up that morning, refusing to get dressed. The suit Tony had bought him ended up in a crumpled pile on the floor as he resorted to carrying the sobbing child out the door in a pair of sweat pants and a wrinkled t-shirt. The few friends and co-workers of May and Ben's that had shown up didn't seem to mind nor care what Peter was wearing because they were far more interested in who was carrying him. He could hear the whispers but believe it or not he _was practiced_ in holding his fucking tongue when it was necessary. So, he ignored the incredulous whispers and naysaying for Peter's sake.

  


It took a while but eventually, Peter had settled enough to say hello and give a few quick hugs or handshakes to the handful of people he recognized. Tony offered several times to go with him to see his aunt and uncle and tell them good-bye but Peter refused every time and he didn't push. Everything he'd read said not to so he didn't. Later, when Peter had hit the end of his rope for the day he'd thanked everyone for coming, left Happy in charge and excused himself and taken the kid home. _ Home._

  


That night had ended in another wet bed but unlike before, Tony was the one there to help him clean up. He'd also been the one to clean it up the next night and the next because it seemed to have evolved into a near-nightly event no matter how many times he prompted the kid to pee before bed but apparently that was to be expected. As were the sporadic tears and continued refusal to eat anything of substance. In fact, the last 'meal' the kid had eaten consisted of two grapes and a singular marshmallow. Then just as Tony was sure he was about to pull his hair out and invite Happy over so that he could drink himself to oblivion, they _finally_ had a good day.

  


Peter slept through the whole night, waking up dry and willing to eat an entire fruit topped pancake. He still refused lunch and didn't eat more than a few bites of dinner but he didn't cry one time that day. More importantly, he'd played by himself in his room for a full twenty minutes before coming to seek Tony out again. It was like a goddamned miracle and Tony should have realized that it was too good to last because the next day the kid was meant to go back to school. He'd missed more than a week of classes and even though there wasn't much left in the school year the counselor had insisted that the routine would be good for both of them. 

  


God, knows the time alone sounded absolutely fucking delightful but he wasn't so sure Peter was going to be thrilled. He was still having a complete melt-down every time he asked Happy to take him for a few hours so that he could talk to lawyers and social workers or just take a fucking shower without the guilt of knowing that Peter sitting outside the door the whole fucking time. 

  


For the first day back to school, Tony woke up early to get Peter ready, though much like the day of the funeral, getting the kid dressed was a nightmare. Only when he threatened to send him to school in his pajamas did the boy finally cooperate but he still refused to put on anything Tony picked. As such, the kid ended up wearing a completely mix-matched outfit and Tony didn't give a singular shit because he was almost certain the entire ordeal had been more about command than clothes. Peter needed to feel like he was in control something and he was willing to let him have that. There were worse things than wearing orange and blue striped basketball shorts with a green plaid button-down out in public. 

  


However, the shit really hit the fan when Happy showed up to drive him. Peter dropped to the floor like a ton of bricks and screamed like he was being burned when Tony picked him up to carry him to the car himself. He wasn't even sure how he was able to keep ahold of the kid the way he was failing about but the icing on the fucking cake had come when Peter turned his head to the side and bit down on Tony's exposed bicep. "Fuck! Did you just bite me!", he shouted out of shock more so than pain as he practically dropped the boy back onto the floor. He had no idea what to do with this sort of behavior. He could deal with the crying, he could deal with the refusal to wear normal clothes and, to an extent, he could deal with the constant need for physical affection but he'd never, ever seen Peter act_ like that_ and it was almost infuriating. "Pete! What is the hell is the matter with you? That hurt.", he asserted as he continued to rub the place on his arm where the boy's teeth had clamped down hard enough to potentially bruise later. 

  


Having gone from stunned from being nearly dropped to feeling wholly consumed by regret, Peter went from looking indignant to crying in a matter of seconds. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. I'm sorry.", he cried as he scrambled to his feet to grab onto the man's legs. "I just don't wanna go to school! _Please_, I want to stay here with you."

  


Tony looked from Peter to Happy who seemed just as thrown off by the behavior as he was and hesitantly picked the kid back up. "Pete, listen to me, kiddo. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here when you get home.", he promised though it was suddenly clear that Peter either didn't or just_ couldn't_ believe him. He already knew that the kid was suffering from some severe separation anxiety but he'd thought that things had been getting a little better. The kid was sleeping in his own bed some nights now and had just the day before gone to play by himself for a while but maybe this was too much too soon and he felt like utter shit for forcing the issue.

  


"What if you're not!", Peter cried and Tony had to swallow back the lump in his throat. 

  


"I will be, I promise but how about this.", Tony quickly began to suggest. "Instead of Happy picking you up at three, how about I pick you up around lunchtime. Just this once and then tomorrow, you stay all day." He had no idea if that was an appropriate solution but it sounded like a compromise and Happy didn't immediately glare at him so it must not have been too bad but most importantly, _Peter stopped crying._

  


"Just 'til lunch?", the boy asked hesitantly as he hugged Tony and buried his face into his neck as if he hadn't been acting like a goddamned feral cat not even ten minutes prior.

  


"Yeah, Bud.", Tony said as he squeezed the kid in more tightly. "Just until lunch. You listen to your teacher, do all of your work and watch the clock. I'll be there by twelve but tomorrow--"

  


"--I go all day.", Peter finished with a small smile and for a second Tony got a glimpse of the happy little boy he'd grown to love so much. However, rather than making him smile in return it just fucking _hurt _because he desperately missed that part of Peter. He missed seeing him bounce into the room and laugh at nothing while smiling that goofy lopsided smile of his. He just hoped that part of Peter wasn't lost and that with time it would start to come out again. 

  


Giving Peter one last hug and a quick kiss on the side of the head, Tony set him down but this time on his feet. "Exactly. Now, are you ready to go?", he asked as he straightened the boy's shirt and tried to flatten his hair. When Peter nodded his head, Tony patted him on the back and smiled towards his friend. "Thanks, Happy. I couldn't do this without you."

  


Once he'd shut the door, Tony rubbed his hands down his face and tried to decide the best way to spend the next four hours. After the week he'd had, he considered taking a shot but he didn't trust himself to stop at just one, so he sat at the bar with a glass of juice instead. From there he found himself in a self-debate as he tried to decide between having some intimate 'me time' in his bedroom or some productive 'me time' in the lab. In the end, work won out and he ran his hands thought his hair before glancing up towards the ceiling. "JARVIS? I'm going down to the workshop.", he sighed out. "Give me a heads up when it's time to go get the kid."

  


At exactly twelve o'clock, Tony was walking into the charter school, Peter attended. He'd never been there before and was sort of shocked at how small and run down it was. Then again he'd never seen the inside of a public school before, not even as a child. He'd attended highly marked private schools for the elite and eventually boarding school. He wondered in passing if he should keep Peter here for the following school year or if he should start looking into private schools but he figured he had time to figure all of that out. Right now he needed to spring the kid from this joint and maybe take him to get some fucking ice cream or something. God knows they both deserved it.

  


His train of thought was interrupted the moment he walked into the tiny office and spotted the back of Peter's head sitting at a desk in the corner of the room. "Pete?", he asked as he started towards where the boy was sitting opposite a young woman who was holding a box of crayons. Though the moment she saw him she smiled and stood to shake his hand.

  


"I'm Dr. Angela Davis, the school counselor. We spoke on the phone.", she said kindly before gesturing towards Peter. "He was starting to get upset so his teacher had me come and get him. We were just about to start coloring."

  


By then Peter had long since found his way into Tony's arms and was currently sitting high on his hip. "You okay, kid?", he asked but all Peter did was nod his head into his chest. He was going to press but the counselor was already talking to him again.

  


"He was worried you weren't coming.", she provided. "We didn't realize you were planning on a short day today so his teacher corrected him when he said you would be here soon."

  


"Shit...", Tony sighed out. It never occurred to him that it would be sort of important for the school to know when he was going to be there. "I didn't think about it. I guess I should have called or something I was just trying to get him out the door and it seemed like a good idea at the time and--", he rambled, feeling more inept than ever.

  


"--It's fine. She just didn't know.", the young woman went on to explain. "Is this your plan for the rest of the week?"

  


Without missing a beat, Tony shook his head. "No. I told him I was only doing this, this one time.", he said with confidence before hesitating slightly. "Unless... do you think that I should..."

  


The counselor smiled and reached out to pat Peter on the back. "I think a routine is important. Having a routine will help with the separation anxiety. He needs to gain his independence back."

  


"It's not like we don't ever separate.", Tony shot back. For whatever reason, he felt the need to not only defend Peter but himself as well. "He goes and stays with his... my... well, he's my security guy. ...my friend... _The point is_, he stays with Happy some and that's getting better.", he struggled, suddenly realizing that he had no idea what to call Happy in regards to Peter. Then again he wasn't even clear what to call _himself_ in regards to Peter at this stage. He wasn't '_My friends' kid_' anymore. He was quickly becoming _his kid_. Temporary guardianship had been granted almost immediately and a more permanent status was well in the works. 

  


"I'd like your permission to pull Peter from class a few times a week.", the woman said, interrupting Tony in his thoughts. "I'd like to help him work through this transition."

  


It didn't take long for Tony to agree. He knew he could probably hire the best damn child counselor the state of New York had to offer but he also knew it would take weeks just to get Peter to talk to them. He was clearly already comfortable with the school counselor, making that the best choice at the moment. "Fine.", Tony sighed out with a nod. "I mean, yeah, of course. That makes sense."

  


"...and just so you know. If you need support too, we can help you with that. We're here for both you and Peter.", The woman said so kindly that it made Tony rethink every thought he'd had on the way inside. Peter was definitely staying at that school for the foreseeable future.

  


If they were willing to support _him_, then that was something worth considering. The whole world knew what a mess he was and when they found out he was acting in loco parentis there would a lot of backlash. He could use...no _he needed_ the kid's school to be on his side. "I'll keep that in mind.", he finally replied before signing Peter out and carrying him towards the car.

  


It wasn't until they were halfway to the small ice cream parlor he was planning in taking the kid to that he realized Peter hadn't said one word since his arrival. "You okay, Bud?", he asked as he glanced in the rearview mirror. While he was much quieter than he used to be, these days, it was unusual for him to be silent. He didn't happily ramble anymore but he _did talk _and him not talking was worrisome.

  


"Mm-hmm.", Peter said quietly before taking a deep breath. "I'm really sorry that I bit you this morning."

  


"Yeah? I'm sorry you did that too.", Tony replied because he didn't want to tell him that it was fine because it definitely wasn't. The kid had been acting like a goddamned lunatic and bit the shit out of his arm. "...and it better not happen again. No more kicking and screaming_ or biting_. You know how to talk. Do you hear me, Pete? You use your words.", he said surprising himself when he realized exactly how_ parental_ that sounded. 

  


"Yes, sir.", Peter returned with tears welling up in his eyes. "I will. I'm sorry."

  


Looking at the miserable sight behind him, Tony sighed. "Look, kiddo. I thought we might do something fun together. You want some ice cream?", he asked hoping to get at least a small smile but he didn't and he tried not to feel too disappointed about it. The boy hadn't exactly had a good day so far.

  


"Yes, please.", Peter answered with a sniff as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "...but I didn't eat my chicken or peas."

  


Tony almost laughed. The kid was so honest it was hilarious sometimes. He was pretty sure that no other child on the planet would willfully admit that they had skipped lunch when offered ice cream. "That's fine. Just this once, we'll go get ice cream even though you didn't eat your lunch, okay?", he replied, wondering how many things he could reasonably offer '_just this once_' before it became a bad habit but then Peter smiled for a second and he no longer gave a shit.

  


They ended up sitting in that ice cream parlor for what felt like an eternity as the kid took his time daintily eating the single scoop that had been served to him in a cup. For a while, Tony just sat and watched him. Smiling as the boy constantly wiped at the drips that slid down his fingers and chin. "Hey, Pete?", he asked softly as he handed over yet another napkin.

  


"Hmm?", Peter hummed around the spoon in his mouth.

  


"You know that I'm not going anywhere. Right?", he questioned with seriousness before waving his hand between them. "Me taking care of you? It's not for a little while anymore, kid. It's going to be forever. Do you understand that?" While he was sure Peter was more than smart enough to understand that. He couldn't actually remember if anyone had ever explicitly told him such and he thought that maybe the kid needed to _hear it_. Hell, maybe he needed to _say it._ Everything about the situation still felt unreal. Almost like he would wake up any day now and realize it was all nothing but a dream. _A terrible, wonderful, terrifying dream..._

  


Peter looked at Tony for several seconds before he spoke and the silence scared the shit out of him. There was a brief moment where he thought the kid was going to tell him that he didn't want to live with him. That he'd rather go anywhere else but instead the boy just scooted out of his own chair and came to stand between Tony's slightly spread knees so that he was close enough to hug him around the middle. "I understand.", he whispered as Tony pulled him up into his lap.

  


"Are you okay with that? I don't guess anyone ever asked you want_ you_ wanted.", Tony said, noticing how the boy instantly relaxed against him. 

  


"I want to stay with you, Mr. Stark.", Peter said with confidence before leaning in a little more closely and dropping his voice to a near whisper. "I love _you_."

  


At first, Tony said nothing. He was far too focused on the warm feeling that had spread throughout his chest because it was nothing like anything he'd ever felt before. Sure, people had said they loved him before but never once had he ever felt compelled to return the sentiment, until right then. "I love you too, Buddy.", he whispered back before kissing him on the head. Then it suddenly occurred to him that the kid, _his kid_, the one that was now a permanent fixture in his home was still calling him _Mr. Stark_ and he fucking_ hated it_. "You know, since you're living in my house now, I think it would be nice if you could call me Tony instead of Mr. Stark. What do you think?"

  


"Mm-hmm.", Peter readily agreed and after that, they just sat there. Tony holding Peter close and Peter content to be held until eventually, the silence was broken "Hey, Mr... um...Tony?", Peter asked quietly causing the man to smile at the sound of his own damn name.

  


"Yeah, Buddy?", he replied just as quietly and smiled softly as he waited to see what the kid was going to tell him.

  


Looking up at Tony, Peter wriggled his way out of the man's lap and tightly pulled at his hand instead. "I gotta go pee.", he whispered with some urgency, thus ended the sentimental moment.

  


Huffing a laugh, Tony stood up, walked the boy down the hall and waited just outside the door. As he did so he thought about the day and sighed. It had been far ideal but he was more than willing to try again in the morning and every morning after. He knew they were far from being okay but they were getting there. One day at a time.

  



	7. What's in a Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Several questions have come up that I want to address.
> 
> 1) Will this follow canon events? No, I am making this shit up as I go along. I will more than likely pull some stuff in but this is very much an AU, so, there won't be any specific parallels. I'm totally screwing with the timeline. 
> 
> 2) Why isn't Tony with Pepper? Because I wanted that relationship to grow later. I really wanted to focus on Peter and Tony. I'm selfish like that. lol.
> 
> 3) Peter isn't Spider-man? Not yet. I just wanted to make it clear that Peter does not currently have any spider powers. He's just a kid. A really, really, stinkin' cute one.

During the next couple of weeks, things did start to get better. Peter was leaving for school with minimal tears and staying for the whole day. He was eating more regularly. Still not enough but he was no longer complaining of stomach aches or skipping meals. He was also no longer wetting the bed on a nightly basis. Though it still happened, more than either of them would have liked. Best of all, Peter _was smiling_. Not the same broad goofy smile that Tony was used to but it was enough to ease Tony's mind. 

As it was agreed upon, Peter was seeing the school counselor several times a week. That seemed to be helping as well because on the days that he saw her, he would come home looking relaxed and wanting to talk all about the time he'd spent with her. Based on what he could tell, it seemed that while sometimes all they did was color and talk about cartoons or books, other times they talked about Ben and May, his parents or apparently... him. 

Those stories always seemed led to awkward conversations that left Tony feeling somewhat worried that the kid was going to say something incriminating at some point. He was almost glad that Peter refused to say more than two words the social worker who'd been checking in with them recently. It was one less thing to concern himself about. Not that he'd ever _done anything _that would lead to any sort of incrimination... because, fuck, he hadn't even had a singular glass of dessert wine in what felt like damn near forever. In fact, most of his near lifetime supply of alcohol had been unceremoniously dumped down the kitchen sink one night when he found himself staring at the locked cabinet for longer than he should have. He'd made a commitment and he was determined to live with it. 

Then, before he could think anymore on that, Peter came through the door and disappeared down the hall. "Hi, Tony.", he said upon his return, when he spotted Tony standing by the counter.

"Hey, Buddy. How was school?", he asked almost ritualistically. It was their routine. Peter walked in and went to wash his hands, then Tony asked him about his day while throwing together some sort of snack.

"It was good.", Peter said in a tone that would indicate the exact opposite. 

Glancing at his phone, he hadn't missed any phone calls from the school or the social worker. Not that missing calls from either of those numbers was even possible. JARVIS knew to push those through no matter what kind of black-out protocol he'd set up for the day. Even if he was meeting with president himself, his phone would still ring for those numbers along with a few other select contacts. Of course, it also occurred to him that maybe the kid was just having an off day. Even with him coming back out of his shell, they still had days where he was more solemn and quiet than others. The counselor had dubbed them 'sad days' and Peter had clung to the childish terminology. "Are you having a sad day, Buddy?", he asked softly, half expecting the boy to start crying but he didn't.

"No.", Peter said after some thought. "I talked to Dr. Davis today... and the other lady came too."

"Ms. Leavell.", Tony provided without missing a beat. That was the social worker he'd been talking to damn near daily for the last few weeks and he knew that she'd recently started visiting Peter at school. He was pretty sure that she was hoping Peter would be more willing to talk to her outside of his presence but he doubted that was working out. Peter would talk to her when he was ready, the environment wouldn't make any difference at all. 

Peter nodded his head and started picking at the bowl of trail mix that had been slid across the table towards him. "Yeah, her. She talked to me first and then I saw Dr. Davis.", he said before growing quiet and looking deep in thought. Tony was just about to ask him what was on his mind when the boy looked up at him. "Can I, can I ask you a question, Tony...?", he asked with a Sutter that Tony had heard directed towards him in quite some time.

"Of course you can. Always, Pete.", Tony assured as he stepped around the counter to sit on the stool beside Peter.

Rather than asking right away, Peter sat there and began to separate the different components of the trail mix, creating several little piles in front of him. Then once he seemed to have built up the courage, he took a deep breath. "Well, Ms. Leavell said that you're going to adopt me.", he said, never taking his eyes off of the food in front of him. 

Tony furrowed his brow and tried to coax the child into looking at him. When his attempts were unsuccessful he sighed. "We talked about that, Buddy.", he said gently. "I'm going to adopt you so that you can stay here with me. That's what will make it forever." Again, Peter nodded his head, without ever looking up but this time Tony didn't try to make him. If playing with his food was going to help him talk then so be it. 

"Yeah, but she said that when it's all done, you'll be my daddy."

Tony took in a deep breath and thought about the best way to respond to that. He'd already considered such and had immediately pushed those thoughts out of his own head. He didn't really feel like he _deserved_ that title. He also wasn't sure Peter would appreciate him trying to insert himself into that kind of role. The boy talked about his mommy and daddy and aunt and uncle on a regular basis. That and he wasn't really sure about taking on yet another appellation. He'd just asked the kid to start calling him Tony and that had taken some getting used to on both of their parts. "I'll to be your... I'll be _the adult in your life_. I'll be who you come home to after school and the one who takes care of you even when you're all grown up and think you don't need me to anymore."

"...but not my daddy?", Peter asked innocently and Tony wasn't really sure what the kid had meant by the question. It almost felt like a fucking trap. 

"I guess, by law, I would be your _parent_.", he finally replied and for a few minutes, Peter was quiet and he thought that had been enough to answer whatever questions the social worker had put in his head but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Am I supposed to_ call_ you my daddy?", Peter asked casually.

Still completely unsure of what exactly was going through the kid's head, Tony sighed. "No. Tony's fine. You don't have to call me anything else.", he assured, though he wasn't sure who he was assuring. Then, when the kid didn't respond at all, he hesitated. "Unless... do you _want to call me that_?", he asked half-hoping that the answer was no because he was not fucking father material but all Peter did was shrug his shoulders.

"I don't know.", the boy replied quietly, never once looking up from the counter but at least now he was methodically eating through the small piles he'd made one by one.

Sighing heavily, Tony watched Peter for several seconds before replying. "You don't have to know right now, Buddy. We can figure it out later.", he said hoping that would be enough to put an end to the conversation but it wasn't. Not really. The kid continued to mention everything 'daddy' for the remainder of the evening. From pointing them out on the television to picking a bedtime story about a little boy and his dad going fishing. Holy hell, the kid was fixated on that subject of daddies and it was making Tony feel extremely uncomfortable. Then as if that wasn't enough, the boy brought the whole thing up again as Tony went to turn out the lamp.

"My friend Ned has two daddies.", Peter said matter-of-factly, instead of answering when Tony asked him if he needed to use the bathroom again before he turned the light out.

"Okay.", Tony replied non-judgementally before attempting to steer the conversation back to bedtime. "You're good to go? Ready for lights out?"

Still ignoring Tony's prompting, Peter continued his own train of thought. "He has a daddy at his house _and_ a daddy that lives in New Jersey.", he explained before moving on to the question that had been plaguing him. "Did you know kids could have two daddies?"

Running his hands over his face because he was so fucking done with this subject already, Tony groaned and made a mental note to chew out the goddamned social worker in the morning. The kid had been just fine with their arrangement and now he was fucking obsessed with talking about dads and it was driving him up the fucking wall. He wasn't a dad. He was a..._ something else_... "Yes, Pete. People can have more than one mom or more than one dad.", he said with more patience than he felt.

Peter didn't say anything for a moment and Tony was about to lean in to tell him good-night when the boy sat up completely. "That means I could have two daddies too, right?", he asked waveringly. Tony could hear the apprehension in his voice and he didn't know how to handle it, then the kid went on, making him feel even more out fo his element. "I could have a daddy at my house and one that lives in Heaven?"

Tony swallowed hard and looked the boy over. It seemed that he'd been having some sort of internal debate all day long and was now searching for affirmation or at very least, validation. This lead to an internal debate of his own as he tried to figure out how to answer that without answering it. Typically he was the fucking king of evasiveness but he couldn't seem to find a way out of this one. The kid was looking at him with big hopeful eyes and there was a nagging in his head telling him to agree because the boy _wasn't wrong_. Hundreds of kids came from homes with multiple parental figures. However, their situation felt... more complicated. "Yeah, kid. I guess you can. You don't, you know, have to call me that though. I don't mind you calling me Tony."

Looking more confused than ever, Peter flopped over onto Tony who had since taken a seat at the edge of the bed. "Other kids don't call their daddy by their name."

The kid had sounded almost sad as he verbalized that observation and Tony once again felt like a fucking dick. It was now obvious that the boy perhaps _wanted_ to call him his father. Maybe just for the sake of having some sort of normalcy. It had probably been hard enough when he had to talk about his aunt and uncle at school while other kids had moms and dads and now he had neither. All he had now was a... _Tony_. There was more than likely no other child anywhere in that school that had a parent that they called by their damn name so Tony reluctantly relented. "Kid, if you want to call me Daddy. I guess you can. I just don't want you to feel like you _have to_.", he said in an attempt to alleviate some of the guilt he was suddenly consumed with.

"Maybe, maybe we can try it sometime?", Peter asked anxiously and Tony wasn't sure if it was his own discomfort mirroring onto the kid or if the boy was just as uneasy about it as he was. Either way, he nodded his head because he'd just abruptly realized that it was _just a name_. Mr. Stark, Tony, Daddy... it didn't actually matter. His role was the fucking same no matter what the kid called him. Being the child's constant, being the one he came home from school too, the one who took care of him for always... that was the role of a parent, _a father_. He was technically a father and that was both scary as shit and oddly amazing. 

"Sure, kid. We can try it sometime. You can call me whatever you want.", he replied before leaning in to kiss the child on the head and turn out the light. "Love you, Buddy.", he added and half-expected to hear Peter call him daddy right then but he didn't. In fact, he didn't say anything at all. He just lay there looking up at him. "What is it, Pete?", Tony asked when Peter didn't participate in their nightly routine.

"I miss Aunt May and Uncle Ben.", Peter replied as his lip began to quiver.

Tony looked at him fondly for several seconds before sighing. "Get Jojo. You can sleep in my bed tonight."


	8. It's a Boy

Several days went by and Peter didn't bring up the subject of 'daddies' again. Not even after another meeting with the social worker and Tony couldn't decide if he was relieved for disappointed. Which seemed pretty fucked up since he had already basically decided that it didn't matter what the kid called him. All he could figure was that the kid's dramatics were rubbing off on him. All of that was going through his head when he tiredly returned to the penthouse after a long day in the workshop. Peter would be home soon and he would need to be there to greet him.

Only when he walked through the door, rather than being met by an empty room he saw the back of a very familiar head on his couch. "Rhodey?", he asked in confusion as the man turned around at the sound of his voice. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I told you before I left that I would stop by while I was on leave. I even gave you the date, man.", the man said with concern. 

While he was happy to see his friend, Tony was also slightly panicked because not only was Peter going to be home in the next twenty minutes but he suddenly realized he'd not told Rhodey anything about the kid living with him. Though to be fair the man had been on radio silence for the last two months but still, this was not how he would have chosen to broach the subject. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming today!"

"First of all, thanks I'm very happy to see you too.", Rhodes said as he watched Tony begin to pull at his hair and walk quickly around the couch to face him. "Secondly, I tried to call you. All damn day but I couldn't get through. JARVIS kept saying something about a 'blackout protocol' and only important calls could get through. So, thanks for that too, by the way."

Tony had not realized that when he'd prioritized who was to be considered an 'important contact' that he'd fucking left one of his best friends out of the protocol. It hadn't been intentional he'd just been so caught up in, well, fucking everything... the legalities, the logistics, the transitions... it just slipped his mind and God, _how many times could one person feel like an absolute dick in a month's time?_ "Shit. I wasn't thinking about that I just... I have so little time to get anything done anymore and I try to avoid any unnecessary... Just... Never mind. How, how've you been?", he stuttered out stupidly, in a lame attempt to make up for his obvious fuck-up.

"I've never been better. You one the other hand, I have questions for.", Rhodes said with a smile despite the concern that was niggling at the back of his mind. "Starting with, what the hell is this and why is it on your couch?", he asked as he held up Peter's stuffed rabbit by the ear.

Upon seeing his friend's hands on his kid's most prized possession, he reached out to snatch it from him. "Give me that! Shit, he'd have a fucking conniption if he saw you holding it.", he grumbled knowing that Peter would lose his shit over a stranger holding his rabbit,_ especially by the ear_. "Hell, I'm barely allowed to touch it"

"What are you talking about?", Rhodes asked sounding somewhere between amused and utterly confused. "Have you lost your mind? JARVIS, is he okay? Sober?"

"All vitals suggest that sir is indeed, sober and in good health, Colonel Rhodes.", the AI insisted as Tony crossed his arms indignantly over his chest, while still holding the toy.

"Then what in the name of hell, are you going on about?", Rhodes asked, this time with a laugh because at least he knew Tony wasn't having some sort of stroke or... crisis or some shit. 

Sighing, Tony tossed the stuffed animal to the side and sat down his chair catacorner from Rhodes. He took a few moments to decide how the fuck he was supposed to answer that but when his friend continued to look at him expectantly he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Remeber that kid I told you about? The really smart one who had the hot aunt and the weirdly nice uncle?"

"Vaguely.", Rhodes replied as he brought his eyebrows together in thought. "I mean, I know you said you were hanging out with him and his family but--"

"--I'm adopting him.", Tony cut in quickly because that seemed like the best way to go about it. Just rip the fucking band-aide off and deal with the sting. The quicker the better.

Rhodes sat there for several seconds just blinking back at his friend before shaking his head as if that would clear things up for him. "I'm sorry, what was that?", he asked when he decided that no matter how he spun it, that made no damn sense. You don't just go out and adopt your friends' kid.

Looking towards the clock, Tony quickly started to clarify because it looked like he had all of about ten damn minutes to do so. Of course, if he hadn't fucked up the priority call list he wouldn't be having this problem right now but he didn't have time to dwell on that at the moment either. He needed to make this quick. "I'm, uh, I'm adopting him. His aunt and uncle, my friends... they died about a month ago and... Well, it's a long-ass fucking story, okay!", he snapped when it looked like Rhodey was going to jump in and say something before he could fully explain anything.

With wide eyes and a slight smile, Rhodey rose from his seat and started towards what he thought was a fully stocked liquor cabinet. "Well, let me get a drink before you get started. I have a feeling I'm going to need one.", he said with some amount of amusement because listening to a story about Tony somehow getting roped into adopting a kid sounded like a real treat.

Feeling unreasonably frustrated and decidedly short on time, Tony snapped yet again. "Yeah? Well, good fucking luck with that! There's not one drop of liquor anywhere in the place anymore.", he shouted before walking towards the front door. "...and I don't have time to tell you shit about it right now anyway, the kids going to be home soon."

While he was thoroughly taken aback by the lack of alcohol in the house he was far more thrown off by the abrupt dismissal. He thought at a minimum his best friend would want to introduce him to the kid he was about to adopt. "Wait, I don't even get to meet him?"

Running his hands tiredly down his face, Tony looked at his friend almost sadly. "You do. Just not right now. I need to give him a snack and see what kind of day he's having. If he's having a good one then I'll bring him down to meet you later. If he's not, I'll call you and we can try again tomorrow.", Tony replied, watching Rhodes's face go from smiling to something unreadable he tried to carefully elaborate. "Look, he still has days where going to school takes a lot out of him and he... well, he gets clingy as fuck and just wants to cry. Plus, he's not a huge fan of strangers, so I'd really rather he met you on a _good day._"

At that moment, Rhodes' featured softened as he listened to Tony sounding so... protective and _parental_. He wanted to say it sounded strange coming out of his friend's mouth but for some reason, it didn't. It seemed.. natural. "That makes, sense, Tony.", he replied with a slight nod of his head before opening up the door to step out. "Keep me posted."

"Will do, Honeybear. Talk to you later.", Tony called after him and not then not five minutes later, Peter walked in the door and towards the bathroom to wash his hands. "Hey, Bud. How was school?", he asked when the kid came back into view.

"It was good.", Peter replied as he crossed the room to climb up onto his self-designated bar stool. "Can I have pudding?"

Smiling fondly, Tony placed the orange he'd been about to cut up back into the bowl and went to the refrigerator to collect the requested treat. The kid had been eating on a more regular basis for several days now but having him request a preferred food was still a big fucking deal. "Sure, kid. Go for it.", he said as he slid the container across the bar along with a spoon. "Now, tell me about your day."

Peter shrugged his shoulders as he tugged at the foil top on the pudding cup. "I played with Ned on the playground. We swung on the monkey bars.", he replied simply.

"That sounds nice.", Tony said as he leaned over the counter to get a good look at the boy. He missed the days where the kid would come in and ramble on and on about his day without end but it was getting better. At least he was getting answers and two sentences was pretty good. 

Nodding his head in agreement, Peter put the spoon in his mouth and smiled for half a second before his face went serious again. "Mm-hmm. He wants me to come to play at his house again. I haven't been there in a long time.", he explained and Tony nodded his head briefly in thought. He knew, from past conversations, that going to his friend's house after school had been a frequent occurrence prior to the disaster they were still trying to navigate through. 

"Do you want to go to his house? We can arrange that.", he asked thinking that maybe a visit with Ned and his family would do the kid some good. A reminder that not everything had changed. That and it would give him an evening to himself and, fuck, he hadn't had that in weeks. 

Looking up from his snack Peter was quick to answer. "I want to stay with you, Tony."

"I'd still be here when you got back. You know that, right?", Tony said with a slight edge to his voice. It was self-centered but he was suddenly overtaken by an ardent desire to go out. His sex life had been brought to a painful halt upon Peter's arrival and at this point, he was craving sexual attention. He knew that logically he could leave the kid with Happy any time and it would be fine but that didn't sound nearly as good as leaving the kid with his friend. Maybe it was the idea of the kid choosing to be somewhere else for a while that made it sound so much more desirable. That felt more like he was doing a good deed. Like he was _allowing_ Peter to play at Ned's house, rather being a selfish prick who dumped his kid with a babysitter just so he could get laid.

"Yeah but, but I just want to stay here... with you.", Peter insisted but this time with more urgency. As much as he liked playing with Ned and being with his friend's family, the idea of leaving Tony's sight still felt intimidating. 

When the kid looked at him fearfully, Tony took a deep breath and leaned back onto the counters. "How about we invite Ned over here?", he asked in defeat as he resigned himself to a future filled with child-induced celibacy. Even though he tried to tell himself that the separation anxiety wouldn't last forever and eventually he could leave the kid with Happy for longer than a couple of hours without feeling like a dick. 

When Peter looked up at him with the widest smile he'd seen in quite some time Tony wanted to cheer in weary jubilation. "Well, I'll have to call his parents so we can set something up.", he said before easing into the subject of meeting Rhodes. "So... Speaking of friends. One of mine is here at the tower visiting.", he said as nonchalantly as possible. "He really wants to meet you."

"Who is it?", Peter asked as if the idea of Tony having another friend was some sort of shocking revelation. Though he supposed that was a fair assessment. Outside of seeing him with some co-workers, the only person that had ever been to the house was Happy. ...and Pepper but the visits the kid had been around for were always short and business-like.

After a moment of thought, Tony looked at Peter and smiled. "Rhodey. His name is Rhodey.", he finally replied. He knew May and Ben would have introduced him as 'Mr. Rhodes' but that felt odd. Rhodey was his best friend and he didn't like the idea of his kid calling him mister anything. Besides, Happy had always been Happy and he was Tony now so, it made sense. "I've known him for a really long time and it would love for you to get to know him too."

"Okay.", Peter replied but Tony could already see the tension building in the kid's shoulders. "When?"

"How about you do your homework and take an early bath. We can go eat dinner with him.", Tony suggested and then looked on as Peter wrote out each of his spelling words several times and flew through a math worksheet before shewing him off towards the bathroom. His thought being, that if that part of the evening was already done, they could stay a little longer. That is if Peter warmed up to the situation enough to do so and he really hoped that he did. Despite having completely fucked up and not even considered telling Rhodes what was going on in his life as it was happening, he was eager to do so now. Despite the tragic circumstances, having Peter there and depending on him was the single greatest that could have ever happened to him. It motivated him to be better and he'd desperately needed that. 

An hour later, Tony was walking into his friend's apartment within the tower with Peter following so closely behind him that when he stopped the kid ran right into the back of his legs. "Hey, there, Sweet Cheeks. Got someone here for you to meet.", he said she strode through the door and attempted to pull Peter out from behind him. 

Rhodes, having had some experience with kids, knelt down to Peter's level and didn't even bother trying to hold out his hand. It was clear that his friend had been serious when he said the kid wasn't a fan of strangers. "Hi, there, Buddy. My name's Rhodey. What's yours?", he asked softly.

When Peter looked towards him for support, Tony's mind went back to the day that they met. Peter had hidden behind his uncle's legs very much the same way he was hiding behind his now and when asked a question he'd given Ben the exact same look. Offering a reassuring smile, Tony placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze when he began to answer.

"Peter.", the boy said quietly. "Peter Parker."

"Well, Peter Parker, I am very glad to meet you. How about we take a seat on the couch. I bet you would like to watch some cartoons, huh?", Rhodes said as he stood up and waved them towards the living area. 

"Yes, sir.", Peter whispered before following loosely behind and sitting down on the edge of the couch while Tony flipped through the channels to find an appropriate lineup because these were apparently things that he knew now. What was and was not appropriate for a second-grade kid watch. He'd learned pretty fucking quickly that just because it was animated _did not_ mean that it was child-friendly and he wasn't going to make_ that_ mistake again. He'd just settled on something and started to walk off to join his friend in the attached kitchen when he felt Peter reach out to grab the back of his shirt. "Tony?"

He could hear every ounce of anxiety in those two small syllables and smiled softly. "I'm not leaving you, Buddy.", Tony assured as he pointed across the open room towards the breakfast bar that divided the room. "I'll be right here in the kitchen if you need me.", he replied and when Peter nodded and let go he walked towards Rhodes who was standing off to the side, pretending that he wasn't watching the whole time.

"So... you weren't kidding about the shy thing, huh?", Rhodey said quietly as he gestured towards the back of the couch, where Peter was motionlessly sitting and watching some random kids show. "It's kind of cute though."

"It's not just shyness and it's definitely _not_ fucking cute.", Tony replied, even though he used to think the same exact thing. Though that was before it had escalated as it had. Now it was just... hard to watch. "He has some serious separation anxiety.", he elaborated and when his friend gave him an almost pitying look he felt the need to defend themselves. At some point defending the kid and his ability to take care of said kid had become almost an impulse even if he knew he best friend hadn't meant anything by it. "We're handling it."

"... handling it...", Rhodes replied with his eyebrows raised. If this was what handling it looked like he wondered how bad it had been in the beginning.

"Yes, handling it! He sees a counselor at school and she gives us...", Tony began before pausing for a moment. "...advice.", he finally finished and waited for Rhodey to laugh at him because since when does he ask for fucking advice? Though the answer was evident... since Peter. However, rather than laughing, the man simply looked concerned.

"It's nearly June. Can't be much school left. What are you going to do with him over the summer?", Rhodey asked without missing a beat and the question sort of sent Tony's brain into overdrive. He'd not even considered that. There was less than a month left in the semester and he had no fucking clue what they were going to do during the time after. Not just the counseling but in fucking general. He may not be CEO anymore but he _had a job. _ He also had the whole Iron Man gig, though he'd not been persuing that much as of late. Somewhere along the way, his priorities had shifted without his consent.

"Shit.", Tony eventually uttered. More frustrated by the fact that he'd not thought of that himself than anything else. He should be thinking about those damn things. The kid was thriving with the counselor and he suddenly realized how much he was getting out of the short weekly conversations that stemmed from Peter talking to her. "I don't know. I'll add it to my list of crap I haven't figured out yet!"

"I wasn't trying to aggravate...", Rhodes said as he held up his hands, placatingly. "...it was just a question."

"I know. It's just been... _stressful_.", Tony admitted feeling utterly vulnerable for having said it. Though he supposed he'd already let down his guard with so many others over the last few weeks that this was no different. So, from there he went into great detail about everything that had taken place from the moment he told his friend's good-bye to the conversation he'd had with Peter before they came down. "...but Happy... he's been here and honestly, I'm not sure we would have made it this far without him.", he eventually sighed out.

"I'm glad someone was around to talk sense into you.", Rhodes replied in earnest, even if there was a small part of him that was sorry he wasn't present to see the transformation. In particular, the one that had led to his friend going sober, by his own accord, in a matter of days. "No alcohol, huh?"

"Not a drop in weeks. I swear to god there are nights I dream about it so vividly that I can fucking taste it.", Tony confessed as he ran his hands over his face. There were days that he was sure the lack of sex and booze was the hardest part of having the kid around. He loved Peter but full-time parenting didn't really fit into his old life-style and changing it on a dime was more difficult than he'd expected.

Suddenly taken aback by Tony's resolve, Rhodes reached out and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you."

"What?", Tony shot back, not even realizing that he hadn't recoiled at the touch or that his friend had been surprised by his lack of reaction.

"I said, I'm proud of you.",Rhodes repeated slowly, for emphasis. "I know. That's like a foreign language to you so let me explain.", he added with mirth. He knew all to well how Tony had been raised and what sort of relationship he'd had with his father. "The kid seems relatively unharmed by your parental status. Therefore, you're doing good."

Huffing a laugh, Tony looked at Rhodes and smiled, tentatively. "Thanks, dear. I appreciate it.", he said. He would have said more but the pizza he'd arranged to be delivered at Peter's typical dinner hour had arrived and he realized he'd already been talking long enough. 

Dinner was eaten in the living room with Peter, as such the subject rapidly changed to what Rodey had been up to on his latest military adventure. Peter while quiet seemed to be listening with interest and giggling in all the right places, as Tony allowed his mind to drift off towards the three million things he needed to figure out before school let out for the summer. Then at some point, Rhodey excused himself to the other side of the room to take a phone call and Tony found himself basically alone in the room with his kid, who he'd been essentially ignoring for the last four hours.

"Was the pizza good?", Tony asked once he'd realized that, outside of handing Peter some food, all of his attention had been on Rhodey since they'd arrived. The kid had enough issues without having to feel fucking_ forgotten_ while in the same room with him. _He wasn't Howard._ Then it occurred to him that the boy had been obediently sitting in that exact same spot without moving more than an inch since they'd gotten there and sighed. "Do you need to use the bathroom, kiddo?", he suggested and when Peter nodded his head emphatically Tony began to mentally beret himself for not pointing out the goddamned bathroom earlier. He knew damn well, the kid wasn't likely to ask about it in front of Rhodey unless he absolutely _had_ to. "Well, go on then. It's down the hall, same as our house. I'll wait for you right here."

After Peter had disappeared into the bathroom, Rhodey who had ended his call quickly, looked towards Tony and grinned. "You're weirdly good with him.", he said teasingly but he meant every word. "Like, I never imagined you being a dad.", he added because he'd been there for his friend through _several,_ thankfully false paternity accusations over the years. They'd none of them been pretty. 

"Me either... but here we are.", Tony sighed out with a flourish of his hand. 

"There you are.", Rhodes agreed with an unfading smile before turning his eyes to the small figure that was emerging from the hall. 

Rather than going back to the spot he'd been in on the couch, Peter ended up climbing into Tony's lap upon his return. That leading him to look at his watch and cringe. "It's way past eight, I really need to get him to bed.", he said before patting the obviously sleepy boy on the thigh. "You here that, kiddo? Bedtime.", When Peter nodded, he set him on the floor and stoop up. Rhodes did the same and walked them towards the door. "How long are you staying?", Tony asked as his friend approached them.

"Just a day or two. I'm going to go stay with my sister for a while.", Rhodes explained. He'd wanted to check in on his friend, especially when he wasn't able to get ahold of him but now that he knew everything was more than okay he was ready to spend some time with his family. 

Nodding his head, Tony opened the door but didn't actually make a move to leave yet. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow then?", he asked somewhat hopefully. 

"Absolutely.", Rhodes agreed and Tony turned to leave, however, he stopped him before he could get too far. "..and hey!", he said, in order to get the man to turn back around. "I meant that. You seem to have this all... under control. I can't explain how good it is to see you so... _content_."

"Yeah.", unsure of what to do with a compliment quite like that, Tony hesitated. "I, uh...", he started before settling on a simple, "Thanks.", before turning to take his kid home and tuck him into bed.


	9. Rising Barriers Lowering Walls

While Peter was at school the next day, Tony spent a large amount of his time with Rhodes. At some point, Happy joined them and Tony was pretty sure he never felt so _supported_ in all his life. He'd read in one of the parenting books Pepper had thrown his way that 'It takes a village' and at the time he thought that had to have been the cheesiest fucking shit he'd ever heard in his life but now that he thought about it seemed fairly... accurate. He had no idea how he would be handling this if it weren't for Happy's assistance, Pepper's understanding, the school's support, and the social worker's endorsement. He was grateful to have Rhodey so willing to add himself to the little village that was being built around himself and Peter. Which is why the phone call he received from the social worker the day after felt like such an immense blow.

"What do you mean someone's challenging the petition? Who's challenging it?", Tony nearly-shouted into the receiver after finding out that someone had placed a roadblock directly into the path leading to Peter's adoption. "More importantly why are they challenging it? I don't understand--"

"--Mr. Stark. Calm down and allow me to explain.", the familiar caseworker explained. "The state is challenging it.--"

"--Why? I've done literally nothing to warrant that. The kid goes to school, he's seeing a counselor, I even went to that fucking parenting class you recommended.", Tony shouted more out of dread than anything else. He didn't know if he could handle it if this adoption didn't go through. Fuck, he didn't know if _Peter_ could handle it. 

"It's not about anything you've done or not done.", the woman calmly explained. "This is about the State deciding that it wants to do some further investigation before making a formal decision."

Despite her easygoing demeanor, Tony couldn't seem to calm his own nerves enough to match her tone and continued to shout in her ear. "How much more investigating can they possibly do? Jesus Christ, you're at my house once a week and you see the kid more than that. Then there was that guy that looked sort of like an angry weasel, that came in and dug through every nook and cranny of my home taking notes and--fuck!--It was him, wasn't it. What did the little prick say, huh? I should have fucking known--", he growled out of pure frustration.

"--Mr. Stark!", she shouted with mirth. She'd been working with the man long enough that she wouldn't have expected his reaction to be any different. "... Again... this has nothing to do with any of that. There are no red flags anywhere. My guess is because this is such a high profile case that they want to make sure they've dotted all of their I's and crossed all of their T's. You aren't the only one who will be under scrutiny when this all gets out, Mr. Stark. The States Child Welfare Department is going to hear about it too and they're going to want to be able to say that they did everything by the book."

"I just feel like they're looking for a reason to take him away from me.", Tony replied, finally dropping his angry tone into something more fearful. "I can't let that happen. You know I can't."

"I know and I fully support this adoption but you're going to have to be cooperative.", the social worker kindly replied. "Now, are you ready to listen to what I have to suggest?", she asked with a small laugh.

"Always, Ms. Leavell, always.", Tony sighed out though he couldn't imagine what else they could possibly want from him. He'd done the classes, had a background check, given several references, been interviewed multiple times, had his house gone through... and then there had been the fucking physical. _That had been a real goddamned pleasure_. "Give it to me... what now."

"For starters, I think it would be wise for you to join and AA group.--", she began only to be cut off by the man shouting all over again.

"--I haven't--", Tony angerly cut in because, holy fuck, he'd already been sober for several weeks.

"--I know. ...and I'm sure that's why your_ such a delight_ right now.", Ms. Leveall returned with a small laugh. Again, she had been fairly certain that would be the man's exact reaction to that suggestion. "Seriously, it'll look good on paper. Just suck it up and do it."

Unable to argue with the fact that it probably would look good on paper, he relented. "Fine. What else.", he grumbled and there was a moment of silence before he received his answer that made his stomach turn. 

"That little prick is going to have to do another home inspection.", the woman replied, trying her hardest to hold back the laugh that was rising in her chest. 

"Fuckiddy fucking fuck. Seriously?", Tony cursed. The last inspection had been bad enough. He could feel the man judging him with his beady little eyes the entire time he spent slinking around the penthouse sticking his nose where it didn't fucking belong.

"I knew you would love that.", Ms. Leavell laughed before taking in a deep breath and sighing. "Alright, that's all I've got. You have any questions?"

"Yeah. Who can I pay to make this go faster.", Tony blandly replied without missing a beat.

"I'm pretty sure we've already discussed this.", the social worker replied in mock annoyance and Tony was pretty sure that under any other circumstances they could probably be friends. "Even _you_ can't simply buy a child. You have to go through the process just like everyone else."

"Yay."

~o~o~o~o~o~

The moment he got off of the phone, Tony lay his head back on his desk chair and tried to decide what to do with the social worker's suggestion of fucking AA. First of all, he was doing just fine on his own. Well, not completely on his own. He had his guilt to nag him. That and Happy was keeping tabs on him just like he always fucking did. The only difference was that now, he actually gave enough of a shit to listen to him. That's how his three-thousand dollar bottle of cognac ended up being poured down his kitchen sink and his entire collection of aged wine gifted to Pepper. If he had enough self-control to go through with that then he was doing just fucking peachy without the added headache of an affirmation or ...sponsor.

The meetings and sponsor idea where what had him wound up so tight though. He couldn't even imagine what sort of goddamned field day the media would have if they got wind of him attending regular Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He wasn't super convinced about how Anonymous it really was. Everyone he'd ever met that attended seemed to want to shout it from the damn rooftops. Then again, even he couldn't deny how good it would look on paper. If the state was going to be putting him under a microscope then he would be wise to follow through with whatever advice the caseworker gave him. He needed this to work as much as Peter did.

That's how he ended up researching a local chapter and finding out that it so happened that they had a meeting that night. At a church of all places, though he supposed if he could make it in the building without bursting into fucking flames, that would be step one. No, Step two. Step one would be getting Happy to watch the kid for him . With that in mind he called him to his office.

"Hey, Hap. I need you to watch the kiddo tonight.", Tony started the moment his friend set foot into the room. "I have a thing to go to at seven I'll be home by nine-thirty."

Raising his eyebrows at the demand, Happy crossed his arms over his chest. "What if I have other plans?", he asked. He didn't but that didn't mean he wanted it to become a habit to the kid dumped on his doorstep any time Tony got the whim to go out on the town. Not that he minded the kid so much as he didn't want to accommodate any debaucherous whims.

"Then you'll cancel them. This is important.", Tony replied without missing a beat and when it looked like the other man was about to argue he glared. "You know damn well, I wouldn't leave him right before his fucking bedtime if it wasn't."

Unable to argue that particular point, Happy sighed. "Where exactly are you going?", he asked but was met with silence.

For several long seconds, Tony sat there and weighed whether or not he should tell his friend where he was going. He couldn't exactly pinpoint what his reaction would be. The man tended to give him a hard time about everything. Though to be fair he typically earned it but this time... _this time_, he really needed him not to. He was already antsy about it. In fact, if he had his way, Happy would be _coming with him_ but he really needed him to watch the kid. "AA", he sighed out, one-hundred percent ready to defend himself if need be. 

"Oh.", Happy replied with a look of slightly shocked approval. "Well, in that case... what time do you want me to have the kid in bed for you?"

Tony wait for several seconds for the teasing to start and when it never came he shook his head and held his hand up in frustration. "That's it? You're not going to give me a hard time? Bust my balls? Nothing?", he asked in mild surprise.

"Should I?", Happy returned with a laugh. 

"No, I just sort of thought you would.", Tony replied with ease. 

"With something like this? Never.", Happy honestly replied. "Seriously. What time does the kid go to bed. I don't know these things. No one went to the trouble of writing me a manual."

"Eight.", Tony chuckled before rubbing his hand across his forehead and sighing. "If he wants to sleep in my bed, he can. Just make_ sure_ he pees first.", he added, emphasizing the latter part of the instructions. While his bed had _not_ remained piss free by _any stretch of the imagination_, it had been a while and he really hoped to keep _that_ streak going.

holding up two fingers in a mock salute, Happy smiled. "You're the boss, Boss.", he said before walking out of the room, leaving Tony to his work.

~o~o~o~o~o~

Explaining the last minute plans to Peter had gone about as well as could be expected. As in there was an all-out tantrum that involved the boy angerly shouting while knocking an empty bowl onto the floor and then crying when it broke. "I don't want to go to Happy's house at night! I want you to stay here!", he cried once the glass was swept up and he was free to get down from the stool he'd been sitting on and run to the couch.

"You're not going to Happy's house.", Tony attempted to explain as he Peter continued to cry into the cushions. "Happy's going to stay here so he can put you to bed and--

"--No! Happy can't put me to bed. Only you can put me to bed!--", Peter angrily spat and Tony had to bite back the urge to stoop to his level. This was the part of 'parenting' that he struggled with the most. The fucking tantrums. If it had been an adult screaming at him like that he probably would have already knocked their teeth down their throat but this was Peter and he would never in a million years hurt him, no matter how angry he got.

"--Pete!", Tony shouted in order to gain the boy's attention. Though he had to reach out and physically grab him by the arm to get him to look up at him. "I'll be home later and I promise to wake you up the second I get back, to tell you good night.", he promised but it didn't seem to matter. Peter was entirely too deep into his tantrum to see reason at the moment.

"No! I won't sleep! You can't make me sleep!", Peter shouted over and over again and all Tony could do was to stand there and wait for him to run out of steam. Eventually, the screaming would turn into legitimate crying that would then fade into hitched breaths and when that happened, he would kneel down beside the couch and try again. 

"You're right. I can't make you sleep but here's the deal. You can get ready for bed when Happy asks you to and--", Tony began to rapidly explain only to be cut off by another short outburst. 

"--No!--"

"--Peter! Stop with the shouting! That's enough!", Tony snapped, having hit the fucking cap on his patience level. That seemed to be enough to have boy snap his mouth shut and allow Tony a moment to pinch the bridge of his nose and take a deep breath to reel himself back in. "When Happy tells you it's bedtime, you and Jojo can wait for me in my bed. If you fall asleep, I'll wake you up."

Rolling over onto his back, Peter looked up at Tony with his wet red-rimmed eyes. "I don't have to go to sleep?", he asked pitifully.

"I would like for you to but I know I can't make you.", Tony sighed out in response. Even he didn't have the power to force another person to close their eyes. He just hoped that after a melt-down of that caliber, that falling asleep on time would be inevitable.

~o~o~o~o~o~

The meeting was just about what hed assumed it would be like. He got inside the church to find several people milling around getting coffee and chatting about their day. Several minutes later, everyone began to file into the conference room, where Tony found a seat by the door. He told himself it was so he could get out more quickly should Happy call him but in reality, he just wanted to know he had an escape route. 

The chairman spoke and said a prayer. They talked for a while about various steps and stages. Tony listened with limited interest. He wasn't sure he was in this for any other reason than to please the state at this point. When the man at the front of the room asked if there was anyone new attending he half-heartedly raised his hand along with a few others. The man went around the room to ask if anyone wanted to introduce themselves and several did, while a few others passed. 

"Would you like to speak?", the man asked in Tony's direction and he couldn't even pretend like he thought the question was directed towards anyone else. He'd sat alone. 

For a moment he considered saying 'pass' as others had but that seemed to defeat the purpose of showing up so he sighed and stood up. "My name's...Tony...", he replied, hesitating only for a moment as he tried to decide if he should use his actual name or not. "I've been told I'm an alcoholic even though I've been sober for a whole damn month.", he clipped before dropping back down into his chair and resting his head in his hands. "I don't even know why I'm fucking here.", he whispered but he was sure the words carried through the silent room.

"It's nice to meet you, Tony. I hope you find what you're looking for with us.", the chairman spoke followed by several other words of welcome from various corners of the room. Glancing up, he couldn't decide if his bullshit disguise of a hat and a pair of worn-out jeans was enough to protect his identity or if the many other men and women in the room were being intentionally respectful of his attempt. _God knows that would be fucking new. _

After the meeting let out, Tony hung back in an attempt to catch the chairman of the group and ask a few questions. "Hey, Colin... It's Colin, right?" 

"Yeah. What can I help you with?", the young man asked as he held out his hand in greeting. Though, Tony didn't take it. He felt short on time. Even though Happy had already messaged him to let him know that Peter had fallen asleep, he wanted to get home at the promised hour. That left his first question coming out sounding more clipped than he'd meant for it to.

"What happens next.", Tony asked without context but the man just smiled at him. 

"I'm not sure I understand the question...", Colin, replied with a curious tilt of his head. 

"I mean if I keep coming. When do you start making me talk about my feeling and signing me up with a buddy or whatever the hell it is that you do."

Nodding his head in understanding the younger man, smiled. "If you keep coming then, that's great. We will never make you talk about anything. It's a huge step to even walk in the building. No one's going to rush you into anything else.", he promised as he collected a few pamphlets and held them out for Tony to take.

Tony looked at the collection of papers but didn't take them. Instead, he placed his hands deep in his pockets and stuck his chin out in defiance. "I'm only doing this because it looks good on paper. I'd be fine on my own."

"That's great. You must have a solid support system.", the man replied as he set the stack of papers back down onto the table within Tony's reach.

There was a moment of silence before Tony spoke again. For some fucking reason he was starting to like the guy and he really didn't want to. He'd been hoping he would be an absolute dickhead so that he'd have an excuse to never come back. "How anonymous is this shindig.", he finally asked, even though he already knew the answer. He just really wanted there to be a good reason for him to tell the social worker it wasn't going to fucking work out.

"As much as you want it to be. Anonymity is one of the greatest gifts that AA has to offer. Without it, many would never attend their first meeting. Most newcomers tend to find that admitting to their alcoholism is painful and being in a protected environment makes it easier. Anonymity is essential. It keeps the atmosphere of trust and openness intact.", the man practically recited before again looking Tony over with interest. "Surely you looked at all the materials online before you came or I assume you wouldn't have shown up at all."

He had read the materials before he came. All of them. Twice. He'd not expected to be called out on it though and it made him feel fucking trapped. "Yeah. Just... checking.", he said before casually picking up the papers and the bright red aluminum coin, that had been set on top of them, and placing it all into his back pocket. 

"Will we be seeing you again, Tony?"

Swallowing hard, Tony looked at the man and sighed. "Probably."

When he got home, Happy smiled at him but said nothing and left to go back to his own suite. After that, Tony made good on his promise and went into his own bedroom to gently wake Peter up and tell him good-night. The kid was so out of it he wasn't even sure he would remember it in the morning but he'd done his part and that was enough for him. After that, he sat down in his recliner and pulled the papers out of his pocket, not noticing it when the coin fell out and rolled across the floor. 

Inside the packet was a booklet filled with information, the twelve steps and a contact number for Colin. He flipped through it all for a few more minutes before getting up to retrieve his tablet so he could get some work done. When he did, he spotted the coin shining on the floor and picked it up to examine it. He sort of expected it to be the 'twenty-four-hour' token he'd read about online and was ready to toss the damn thing in the trash. He'd long since surpassed a full day without drinking and it almost felt like an insult. Then upon further scrutiny, he realized it read 'one month'. For some reason, he found it extremely interesting that the man had believed him. After squeezing it in his palm for several seconds, he sighed and slipped it into his wallet. He supposed that carrying around a small reminder of how far he'd already come wouldn't hurt.


	10. Lost in Your Memories

It was a week later When Tony finally got up the nerve to follow through with his earlier promise and speak to Ned's mom about a _playdate_. She had easily agreed to allow her son to come home from school with Peter and a few days later, Happy was following the two overly excited children up to the penthouse where Tony was anxiously awaiting their arrival. 

He had no idea what to expect and at first, he was absolutely fucking elated to see his kid smiling... grinning..._ laughing. _Then a slight streak of jealously shot threw him for being unable to elicit that same sort of reaction and when he realized how goddamned stupid that was he brushed it off. "Hey, boys. Go wash up and I'll get you some pudding.", he announced before_ two sets of germ-infested hands_ could start touching all of his shit. 

The boys rushed down the hall squealing and it was all Tony could do to not cover his ears. He was pretty sure this was going to be the longest three and a half hours of his entire fucking life. ...and he'd spent three months living in a cave _as a hostage._ "Hey, Happy... think you could--"

"--Nope!", Happy interrupted. "This was your doing. You can suffer through it.", he said with a laugh before becoming somewhat serious. "I'll be downstairs though. ...If it gets to be too much."

Tony nodded his head and watched his friend exit the room before pulling two pudding cups out of the refrigerator and setting them on the breakfast bar. Then as he heard the two boys running back down the hall sounding like a pack of damned elephants he had to keep reminding himself that he could do this. It was only for a few hours and Happy was only three minutes away. 

At the end of the day, the entire experience hadn't been _as bad_ as he thought it would be. Though, he did find himself shouting things that he never thought any human being at any age would ever need to be told. At one point the boys had been sitting in the living room playing legos when he heard Ned squealing 'ew' and he looked up to find his kid rapidly placing numerous legos into his mouth and he damn near panicked. "Pete! Spit those out! ...Why would you do that? You could have choked slap to death!", he shouted and nearly gagged when Peter spit them out into his hand coated in strings of saliva. 

"I didn't want Ned to use those ones but he said he was going to anyway.", was Peter's only response and all Tony could do was stare at him for a few seconds while he tried to come up with how he was supposed to counter that. There was nothing in any of the books Pepper had given him had covered that topic.

"Kid... you don't... you don't put things _in your mouth_ because you don't want to share them. That's _disgusting_.", Tony finally managed to get out but he was still sort of shaking his head at the fact that he had to say that at all. "Go... go _wash those_ and then you can put them all away and find something else to do."

Peter did what was asked and for a long while after Tony thought that would be the worst of it. Outside of the constant yelling anyway. Why two kids needed to yell to each other when they were in the same fucking room together was beyond his comprehension. Then dinner happened. Being the responsible adult that he was somehow becoming, he made the two boys a complete meal with something from every food group and sat down with them to eat it. Things were going well all the way up to the moment that Ned looked at Peter and started talking with his mouth full.

"Hey, Peter, guess what I'm eating.", he said and before Tony could decide if he was supposed to be correcting someone else's kid for talking with a mouth full of food the kid spit it all out onto the napkin beside his plate. 

If Tony thought he might gag at his own kid's spit covered legos, this was ten times worse and he actually felt his stomach turn. At that moment he decided that, yeah, he was allowed to correct that. God knows he would want someone to correct his kid for something like that if he wasn't there, because it was fucking _gross. "_Ned! God... that is not a game we play at the table... or ever... anywhere. ", he said, deciding right then and there that he never wanted any more children ever. 

When both boys giggled at his reaction he had to bite his tongue. It was oddly infuriating. "It's not funny. Now, go put that in the trash. Then come finish eating. ...and keep your food _in_ your mouth. Capisce?"

"What's_ that_ mean?", Peter asked as Ned went to throw away his soiled napkin.

"It means, 'Understand'., Tony vaguely explained before urging both kids to hurry up and finish eating. Ned's mom was due to pick him up soon and Tony wanted to be able to hand the woman her kid back fed and in one piece, as agreed upon. Once that was accomplished he sighed in relief and flopped down onto the couch, rubbing his hands down his face. "Alright, Pete. Bathtime.", he sighed out more ready than ever to get the kid into bed. All he wanted was some fucking quiet.

Peter complied and skipped off towards the bathroom to get ready for bed as Tony sat in his chair and closed his eyes for what he thought was only a few seconds but the next thing he knew Peter was calling his name. "Yeah, Buddy? What do you need?", he called back thinking the boy needed him to bring him some pajamas or another towel or something, as he sometimes did, but that wasn't the case at all.

"I'm ready for my story.", Peter called back and Tony looked up at the large clock on the wall in surprise. He wondered how long the kid had been waiting for him.

"Sorry, Kid.", he said as he shuffled into the room and sat on the edge of the bed. "Guess I dozed off. Did you have fun with your friend today?"

"Mm-hmm.", Peter readily replied and Tony couldn't stop himself from leaning in and kissing the happy boy on his head. "Can he come over again?"

"One day.", Tony said with a laugh. He knew he would eventually have to let the kid have his friend over again but he wasn't going to make any promises about when. He wasn't ready to make afternoons like_ that one_ a regular event. "Maybe you could go to his house next time. Maybe even spend the night.", he casually suggested but the boy shook his head. 

"Not Yet.", Peter replied simply but there was a firmness to his tone that warned Tony not to push it.

"Okay, Not yet...", Tony agreed with a sigh. All he wanted was one fucking night and he would really rather it be the kid's idea. He was getting extremely close to forcing the issue and having the kid spend the night with Happy. He wasn't sure how many times he could promise he'd still be there. Maybe he just needed to fucking prove it instead. If for no other reason than his own sanity. "..You understand that I wouldn't leave you there, right? I would come to get you just like Ned's mom came to get him?"

"Mm-hmm.", Peter agreed but Tony wasn't sure that he really did. Not fully. "I just wanna stay here."

"Alright, Buddy.", Tony said as he ran his hands through the boy's still slightly damp hair and then proceeded to read the small book that had been taken off of the self for him. "You ready for bed?", he asked after he'd read the last page and Peter nodded that he was. "Okay. I love you, kiddo.", he sighed out as he leaned over to kiss Peter's head.

"I love you too.", Peter replied while reaching under the covers and feeling around only to come up empty-handed. Tony, however, didn't seem to notice and was on his way out the door when Peter called out again. "Wait! Where's Jojo?"

"Huh? Is he not in your bed?", Tony asked. When Peter shook his head 'no', he flipped the light back on. "Did you take him out to the couch this morning?", he answered next. That was a reasonable question. The rabbit often ended up on the couch. Peter went to look and came back empty-handed. "Are you sure he's not in all these blankets?"

"I'm sure.", Peter whined but Tony started to pick them up and shake them out all the same. No results. There was no rabbit anywhere in the bed. "Where is he?", he asked but this time the whine was edging on panic and there were tears pricking his eyes.

"I don't know, Buddy.", Tony said soothingly as he glances around the room. "JARVIS?"

"I have no way of tracking Young Master Peter's stuffed toy. I could pull up some footage for you to review if you would like.", the AI calmly informed and Tony was already trying to figure out the best way to put a tracker on the damn thing the moment they found it. He knew the kid was attached to it, he just didn't realize quite how deep it went until now _when it was fucking missing_ and the kid was about to lose his shit about it.

Taking a deep breath, Tony started to look in all the obvious places. The bathroom counter, the kitchen table, the kid's backpack... but it wasn't in any of those places. Peter wasn't even trying to help anymore, all he was doing was laying in his bed asking 'Did you find him yet, Tony?' and getting more and more distraught every time the answer was no. He was right on the very verge of yelling at the kid that it would be a whole lot fucking faster to find the damn thing if he actually got up and tried to help but he didn't. He held his tongue and continued the search.

Then after spending a good twenty minutes in pursuit of the missing toy, he finally thought to look under the bed where low and behold Jojo was laying there folded in half on the floor. "I got it, Buddy." , Tony called out from the floor but Peter didn't seem to hear him because he was still crying. "Look, Pete. I have Jojo right here. He was under your bed. You and Ned Probably knocked him on the floor while you were acting all crazy.", he said again as he placed the rabbit into Peter's hands, leading the boy into a string of grateful ramblings.

"Thank you, Tony! I thought he was gone forever and, and... Thank you...", Peter said while still sniffling lightly and holding the toy so tightly under his chin that Tony wasn't sure how the head wasn't popping right off. Then before he could rise from the bed, Peter was launching himself around his neck, the words 'thank you' still spilling out of his mouth at a rapid rate.

As Tony instinctively held Peter close, he was starting to think that this reaction seemed a little over the top. It was a stuffed toy for Christ's sake and before he could stop himself he was asking about it. "What's so important about this rabbit, kid? I mean, I know you sleep with it every night but you have a dozen other stuffed animals. Why this one?" 

Looking somewhat sheepish, Peter sat beside Tony and leaned up against him. "Jojo isn't mine.", he said in a near whisper as he continued to hold the rabbit loosely in his lap. "He's my daddy's. Daddy gave him to me before him and Mommy went on their trip. He asked me to take good care of him so I can't lose him ever, ever.", he quietly explained and the way his voice cracked as he did so made Tony's heart ache.

"You won't lose him.", Tony sighed out as he looked around the room at the various things laying around. He'd had the Parker's apartment packed up shortly after their passing. That meant that there had been an influx of books, toys, and clothing brought into the kid's room all at once and while it was familiar to Peter, Tony didn't know anything about any of it. 

As he looked around at the neatly arranged room he wondered what other precious memories were hidden amongst the items. Which things were from Peter's parents, which ones had been birthday gifts or Christmas surprises. He wondered who had read each of the little golden books that lined one of the shelves before him. Then he realized how much he really didn't know about his kid's past. He had no idea what his first word had been or when he'd taken his first step and for some fucked up reason, that left him feeling sad despite the fact that he hadn't even known the kid existed until he was over six years old. 

Then he looked down at the boy who's eyes were starting to fall closed and smiled. When the Parker's things had been delivered and stored away in one of the many empty rooms the tower had to offer, he'd not even looked at it. Going through those boxes felt like an invasion of privacy. Those were his friends' personal things and digging through it all felt wrong. He'd decided to leave it as it was until Peter was old enough to ask about it. Then he would allow him to be the one to sort through it. Now, though, he wondered what sorts of treasure were hidden inside of those boxes. Maybe there were some photo albums or home videos. Things that would enlighten him about Peter's early childhood.

It also occurred to him that even after more than a month he didn't have one picture of the kid anywhere in their home. He remembered the way the Parker's walls had been lined with them. After that realization, he decided to make it his mission to find some of those pictures and place them around the living room. While he was frighteningly close to being Peter's parent, he knew that he wasn't the first to raise him and he wanted to make sure to represent everyone who had. 

~o~o~o~o~o~

The next day, while Peter was at school, Tony cautiously went into the large room filled with boxes. At first, all he did was walk among them, reading the various labels. .._.'Men's Clothing', 'Kitchen', 'Hall Closet', 'Master Bedroom'... _He didn't pause until he came across one that read 'Photographs'. He'd gone in there expecting to have to dig through boxes for hours in an attempt to locate a handful of frames but it seemed that someone had thought ahead. Taking a small knife out of his pocket he cut through the tape and found stacks of what had to have been every framed picture in the house, each covered in a thin layer of bubble wrap. After pulling them out and spreading them along the floor, he realized there were several photo albums on the bottom. 

Abandoning the pile of framed images he's no doubt seen before, he pulled out the three books. The first, seemed to be a wedding album. Flipping through the pages he realized it was Richard and Mary Parker. He wasn't convinced he'd seen them before but now that he was looking at them... he could see Peter. The boy had his mother's eyes and his father's facial structure. Then he spotted Ben and smiled. 

The next book looked very much the same, except it was May and Ben's wedding. Looking at May in particular it was as if she'd never aged. Her hair, her smile, her features... she looked exactly the same as she had on the day, he'd told her good-bye at his front door. Ben on the other had looked younger and didn't yet have the wise appearance that Tony remembered. He wondered if the death of his brother and sister-in-law had caused it. Loss tended to change people... he would know.

The last book was different than the first two. Rather than being dark leather, it was a soft blue cushioned cover and he knew it had to be Peter's. Hesitating slightly, he opened it up to the first page to find a birth announcement. _'Peter Benjamin Parker_', it read in bright yellow letters with all of his information below it. '_Five pounds, three ounces_', was listed as Peter's weight and Tony closed his eyes and tried to imagine himself holding someone so small. 

The next few pages were filled with photographs of Peter. His tiny fingers and his tiny toes. The soft curls that covered just the very top of his head and the face he would recognize anywhere. Even as a newborn, _he looked like Peter._

Later he came across a list bound into the book. _'Rolled Over: Five Months, First Smile: Two Months, First Steps: sixteen months, First word: Mama...' _Each missed milestone made his heart hurt but then he turned the page and saw the pictures that followed. Peter with his parents and aunt and uncle... smiling. Skipping slowly through the pages he could see the exact moment that Peter's parents disappeared and May and Ben took over. The kid couldn't have been any more than four.

Eventually, he made it towards the back of the book where he landed on a picture that he recognized immediately. It was one Happy had taken in front of the large arc reactor that powered the building. Ben was holding Peter, May was on his left and as insisted, Tony was on his right. He spotted himself a handful of times over the next few pages until things fell blank and he realized that, should he pick up where it left off, there would be another obvious shift in parental care. Closing the book back up, he set it aside and began unwrapped the frames, selecting the ones he wanted, then packing the rest back up along with the wedding albums. 

Back upstairs he placed a picture of Peter with his parents on one side of the mantel and one of his with his aunt and uncle on the other. He made a mental note to get a picture of himself with the kid to put up there with them. It made sense. Nodding his head in approval, Tony took a deep breath and carried the baby book into his office where he dug through his drawer for the booklet Ben and May had written for him and stuck it between the pages. He'd have to get Pepper to show him how to properly add things in. He was sure she would know how to do it. It seemed like she knew how to do damn near everything.

A glance at the clock on the wall, later revealed that Peter would be home soon and he still needed to call the social worker and the school about how things would work over the summer. They needed to make some memories of their own... He really wanted to be able to take Peter out of the state, maybe the country but he wasn't sure how that worked, seeing as Peter was not fully his as of yet. He definitely needed to know what to do about counseling during the school break. It seemed like he wasn't going to be getting any real work done and Pepper was probably going to have his head about it later but he didn't actually give a shit. 

Sighing to himself he pulled one last small frame out of his pocket and placed it on the edge of his desk before taking a seat in the large office chair. Leaning back he laced his fingers together behind his head and looked towards the ceiling. "JARVIS? Call the school for me.", he said because he had a lot to figure out and he may as well get started.


	11. Communication

By the time the last week of school rolled around, Tony had attended two more AA meetings, had gotten the summer mostly figured out and while the final goddamned home inspection had yet to happen the social worker continued to insist that it was coming up soon. Peter continued to improve. The day spent with Ned seemed to have done wonders for his spirits. It was almost as if inviting a friend over to play had solidified the fact that he truly lived there and that he was truly at home. Though that could have just as easily come from the appearance of the photographs Tony had pulled out of storage. Peter had spotted them the moment he'd walked in the door that day and hadn't stopped looking at them since. Anytime they were in the living room, the kid's eyes would wander to the mantle, sometimes making him smile, other times making his eyes water. Either way, Tony was pretty sure he'd made the right choice by pulling them out. 

Things, in general, were going fairly smoothly at this point. Not perfect, probably never perfect but the tantrums were becoming less and the kid was talking way more. For the first time, in a while, Tony felt like he could _breathe_. Which was, why the dramatic outbursts and near hysterics that came from trying to get the kid boy ready for school on the last Monday of the semester were unexpected. Not that the kid was ever a pleasure to wake up but his current behavior was over the fucking top. "Pete, what is your problem this morning? You have to get ready for school. Happy's going to be here soon and you still need to eat something.", Tony hissed through his teeth as the boy continued to refuse to get out of bed. 

"I don't want to go to school today and I don't want to eat.", Peter groused as he tried to pull the blankets back out of Tony's firm grip. When he couldn't he became frustrated and growled in response. When that didn't work either, he began to kick the bed. "I want to stay in my bed!", he shouted before landing a flailing kick right in the middle of Tony's thigh.

"Hey!", Tony shouted in return even though he was fairly sure the kid hadn't actually been trying to kick him. "What is the matter with you? You don't kick me, you don't kick anybody!", he added after taking a few steps back away from the bed. He was of half a mind to stomp out of the room, slam the goddamn door and go about his day but he knew better. Instead, he took a few measured breaths and lowered his voice. "It's a school day, kid and you don't get a choice in that. Get up now and you can pick what you wear, otherwise, you're going in your pajamas. This is non-optional, Pete. Get. Up. Now."

With a little more coaxing Peter was finally dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a slightly oversized t-shirt. He refused to comb his hair and he looked like a frumpy mess but Tony let it go. What he wasn't willing to let go was the way the kid was also refusing to eat anything. They hadn't had that battle in a while and that left him feeling downright confused. "Why aren't you eating."

"I don't want eggs. They don't smell good.", Peter complained with a frown as he pushed the plate as far away from himself as possible.

"Well, what would smell good?", Tony asked in irritation because last he checked, _which was just fucking yesterday_, the kid loved eggs.

Peter laid his head down onto the counter and began to swing his feet back and forth on the stool. "Nothing. I don't want anything.", he whined.

"Kid... you can't...", Tony began to argue before remembering that he wasn't supposed to make food a battle. Both the counselor and the pediatrician had assured him that Peter wouldn't allow himself to starve to death and he'd accepted that at the time. Now it was just fucking aggravating. He wasn't prepared to go through another 'I don't want to eat' phase but he gave in anyway. "What about some juice then." 

Peter reluctantly sipped at the juice before walking down the hall to brush his teeth, returning just as Happy walked through the door. However, rather than greeting the man with a high-five or a small hug as he'd been doing for the last few weeks, he began to cry. "Can I _please_ stay home?" 

Unsure of what had the kid so out of sorts, Tony picked him up and held him close to his chest. "I'm sorry, Buddy. You've got to go to school. This is your last week though. Then it's summer vacation.", he said, hoping that would be enough to get the boy out the door but it wasn't. Peter continued to cling to his neck, hot tears burning into his skin as the kid cried. Tony allowed it for all of two minutes before passing the kid over into Happy's waiting arms. "I'll see you after school, kiddo. Be good.", he said as he watched Peter fall limp in his friend's arms.

As Tony went to get ready for his own day, he couldn't stop thinking about Peter's behavior. He couldn't think of anything that could have triggered a regression in their progress but then again grief was a bitch. ....and as he'd been _so kindly_ reminded over and fucking over again, there was no specific process when it came to mourning. He knew that already but it didn't make him worry any less. Peter hadn't lashed out at him like that in weeks. He really thought they were doing okay.

Those thoughts continued to roll around in his head as he entered the board room where he would be spending the next several hours. It was fucking ridiculous. He'd already given Pepper control of the company and you would think that would get him out of this kind of bullshit but apparently it didn't so there he was. By the end of the first hour, he was no longer even pretending to pay attention as he scrolled through his phone and messaged Happy to make sure Peter had gone into the school without incident. Pepper glared at him from the head of the room but didn't say anything while the other board members ignored him completely. Then just as they were coming to an end of the second hour Tony's phone rang. 

Knowing that there were only so many people that could actually get through to him while he was working he checked the caller ID and sighed. It was the kid's school. Assuming that Peter was in just as bad of a mood there as he was when he left home, he looked at Pepper and shrugged his shoulders. "I have to take this.", he mumbled and exited the room. "Dr.Davis.", he said as a greeting once he had the phone to his ear and the call was connected. If Peter was having a bad day then she would be the one to call him.

  
"No, this is Imani Bankole, the school nurse.", the woman on the other side of the phone informed and Tony could feel anxiety prickling at the back of his neck because why the crap would the nurse be calling him? Other than being grumpy as hell, the kid had seemed just fine when he'd sent him on his merry way that morning. "I have Peter here with me--."

  
Furrowing his brow in concern, Tony took a deep breath. "--What happened?", he asked as he ran several scenarios through his head. Maybe the kid had gotten hurt... or maybe worse, hurt someone else. Those both seemed like shitty but highly possible reasons for a phone call. Though neither of those things ended up being the case.

  
"He has a temperature almost one-hundred-and-one and--", the nurse began but Tony didn't allow her to finish. 

  
"--Do I need to come and get him?", he asked sounding only slightly less panicked than he felt because a fever meant the kid was sick and he was incredibly unprepared to deal with a sick child. He had no idea what kind of medicine you give a seven-year-old. He also had no idea whether or not he was supposed to take him to the doctor. ...and holy fuck, what if he puked? He was just starting to consider whether or not he should call Happy to deal with it instead of him when he realized the nurse was answering him.

  
"Yes, sir. That's why I'm calling. Students can't attend classes with a temperature over one-hundred point one.", she nearly laughed and it made Tony feel more on edge than it probably should have. "Are you able to get here or do I need to call his secondary contact...Mr. Hogan?"

"No, no. I've got him. I'll be there soon.", he hurriedly replied before ending the call. He didn't need anyone at the school to think that he was too busy or unwilling to come to get the kid when they needed him too. Without so much as 'I need to go' or 'Call me later', Tony was walking away from the boardroom and towards the garage, all the while, dialing Happy. 

"What's up, boss?", Happy asked as he picked up the line. 

"I need you to meet me in the garage and be quick about it.", Tony replied without missing a beat. 

"Why?", Happy blandly replied. Why he continued to put up with the man's vague demands day in and day out was a mystery even to him. "I thought I only had to chauffeur the kid anymore. What with being promoted to security and all that."

Sighing in frustration, Tony went on to explain, even though he didn't feel like he should fucking have to. It seemed like the guy would know by now that he was his go to man when it came to things he needed back up for. Which more often than not, meant it had something to do with Peter. "This is about the kid! The school called, he's sick, I need to go get him."

"So go get him. What do you need me for?", Happy laughed because being a phone call, all could hear was the clipped attitude and couldn't see his friends stressed features.

"...because I don't know how to take care of a sick kid!", Tony nearly shouted into the receiver. "I can barely take care of a sick _me_. Pepper has to come in and make sure I'm not dead in my living room. I don't know how to do this."

"Oh, what and I do?", Happy asked with mirth even though, in reality, he was slightly worried. He didn't really have any experience in this department so he just offered some broadly assumed advice based on nothing more than common sense. "Look, just stop at the pharmacy and get some children's Tylenol or something."

"What if he pukes?", Tony snapped with mild panic. Watching the kid spit legos out of his mouth had been bad enough and he didn't have to _clean that up. _

"Then don't call me.", Happy snipped back. "I've cleaned up the kid's piss for you. I draw the line at vomit."

"Thanks a lot, Hap. Glad I can count on you.", Tony sarcastically spat only to be met with silence.

While rationally, Happy knew that Tony wasn't trying to be aggravating. That didn't make being shouted at in the middle of the morning any less annoying. He also figured that least one of them needed to be level headed at the moment so he sighed. "I'll meet you at the car in five."

It took all of about twenty minutes to get to Peter's school and he was soon being led into the small nurse's office where Peter was lightly sleeping on the provided cot. His cheeks were bright pink and he could see the boy's body shivering under the small knitted banket. Walking towards him, Tony took a deep breath. Everything in him was screaming him to make the kid feel better while a small nagging part of his brain kept sending sparks of anxiety through him, reminding him that he had no idea how to do that. "What do I do now?", he asked quietly. "Do I just take him home and put him back to bed?"

  
"You can.", the nurse said just as quietly. "You may also want to consider lowering his fever with some over the counter medication.--", she started but before she could finish Peter was coughing in the background and Tony was cutting her off. 

"--Is he okay?", Tony asked as he watched his kid's tiny body wrack with coughs. 

"He's sick.", the woman flatly replied. "Just take him home and let him get some rest. He can return to school when he'd been fever-free for twenty-four hours."

Before Tony could respond, he heard the paper on the cot start to crinkle and looked up. Peter was sitting up, rubbing his eyes and blinking back at him with a frown. "I can't miss the last day of school party.", he said with a slight rasp to his voice that seemed to make him cough all over again.

Tony watched the nurse hand his kid a tiny cup of water and sighed. The last day of school was in four days and the boy looked like death warmed over. He was having a hard time imagining him being well enough to return to school before the end of the semester. "You might have to, kiddo. We'll see.", he said as approached Peters's side and ran his fingers through his hair. "You ready to blow this popsicle stand?"

"Mm-hmm. I don't feel good, Tony.", Peter replied and held up his hands to indicate that he would prefer to be carried at the moment and Tony didn't bat an eye. He simply placed his hands at the boy's sides and lifted him onto his hip. He knew that most nearly eight-year-old's didn't get carried nearly as much as Peter did but he didn't care. The kid was light, considering his age, and he was more than willing to carry him wherever he wanted to go until he couldn't anymore.

"I know, Buddy. I'm sorry. We're going home, alright?", Tony said with care before reaching for a pen and signing him out. When they got back to the penthouse, he carried him all the way up the stairs and dropped him off in his room. He was going to suggest he change back into his pajamas but the outfit was in was probably comfortable enough. Then it occurred to him that the kid had probably already been feeling like shit when he woke up. That would explain everything, really. The desire to stay in bed, the refusal to eat... even the soft baggy clothes... he should have fucking realized something was off. Hell, now that he really thought about, he'd even made a mental note that morning that the kid felt warmer than usual when his wet cheeks were pressed up against his neck and shoulder. He's just written it off as temper. "Why didn't you tell me you didn't feel good this morning?", he asked as he watched the boy climb under the blankets with is rabbit tightly fisted in his hand. 

"I didn't want you to be mad at me.", Peter tiredly replied from where he sat, leaning up against his headboard.

"Why would I be mad at you for being sick?", Tony asked in shock. Sure he made the kid wash his hands on a regular basis and in general avoided being around anyone who sounded like they might be coming down with something but he couldn't think of anything he'd said to the boy to make him think he'd get _mad at him_ for being sick. It wasn't like he could help it. If anything he was surprised it hadn't happened already. The kid had his hands in his mouth all the time and spent the majority of his time sitting in a festering Petri dish of a school.

"You got mad at me when I said I wanted to stay home.", Peter observed with a frown and Tony wanted to scoff at the childish logic.

"That was different. I thought you just wanted to stay home for the sake of staying home. I didn't know you weren't feeling good.", Tony explained and Peter shrugged his shoulders. He was tired and thirsty and wanted to go back to sleep.

"Tony? Can I have some juice?", Peter asked with a sigh.

"Sure, kid.", Tony said softly and was surprised when he felt Peter's overly warm hand slip into his. "You want to come with me?", he asked and Peter nodded his head. He wasn't ready to be left alone. May and Ben never left him alone when he was feeling bad. He hoped Tony wouldn't either. "Alright, kiddo. Let's go get you some juice."

They walked out into the kitchen together and Tony watched as Peter drained an entire glass in just a few long swigs. When he was done, Tony picked him up with the intention of carrying him back to his room. However, they didn't get three steps down the hall before the front door was opening and Pepper was stepping in with her arms crossed firmly over her chest. He probably should have called her to let her know he wasn't coming back to that meeting._ Whoops._

"Tony Stark! What on Earth were you thinking? You can't just leave a meeting like that..."


	12. Unexpected Visitors

When Pepper walked in the door questioning him with _disappointment_, Tony sighed and shifted Peter so that he was a little more secure on his hip. "I know. I know. The school called and I panicked.", he said with a sigh however at this point she'd already spotted the kid and put two and two together.

Ignoring Tony completely, Pepper approached Peter and placed a hand gently on his warm back. "Not feeling good, huh, sweetheart?", she asked with such sympathy that Tony was sure it sounded almost _maternal_ and it made him smile. Peter nodded and she brushed the hair out of his face "You look tired. I bet after you take a nap you'll feel a little bit better." Again, Peter just nodded his head and Tony frowned because usually, the kid talked to Pepper. He had to feel pretty awful to be that quiet. Pepper didn't seem to mind. She continued to rub his back and hold his hand while asking him simple yes or no questions but eventually, she found her way back to why she was there in the first place. "You should go rest, sweetie. I need to talk to Tony for a minute."

After placing Peter back in his bed, Tony sighed. He wasn't looking forward to the conversation that was to come. It would inevitably be something about 'responsibilities' and 'communication'. He wasn't really up for it. Peter was the only thing occupying his thoughts and he didn't really want to leave him. "I'll be back in a few minutes to check on you.", he said as he stood but Peter grabbed him by the shirt.

"Is Ms. Potts going to be mad at me?", Peter asked hesitantly.

"No, Buddy. She's mad at _me_. I left a meeting without telling her and she thought I was--", Tony started only to realize that he didn't actually owe the kid that much of an explanation. What he did was beside the fucking point. The actual point was that Pepper was definitely not going to be mad at Peter so he went with that. "--Well, it doesn't really matter. She'd not going to be mad at you."

Peter dropped his gaze down to the sheet for a moment before looking back up at Tony. "You had to leave the meeting because of me, didn't you?"

The kid was too smart for his own fucking good. Of course, he would figure that out. It wasn't even relevant. Not really. The real issue at hand had nothing to do with where he went and he needed Peter to see that. "Yes but that's not the problem. _You_ are never a problem. Everybody loves you. The problem is I didn't tell her first.", he explained with as little detail as possible. "You don't have to worry about that though. Just go to sleep."

The second he left the bedroom, Tony saw Pepper standing in the kitchen waiting for him and braced himself for whatever lecture was to come. Only it didn't, Not right away anyway. "So... What's going on with him?", she asked kindly while digging through is cabinets for a glass and pouring herself some water. 

"Fever.", He curtly replied, then tilted his head to the side as he elaborated slightly. "...and a cough. A cold or something I guess."

Nodding her head in acknowledgment, Pepper glanced around the room as if she were looking for something. "Did you give him anything for it?", she asked when she didn't see any evidence that any sort of medication had been offered. 

Suddenly feeling extremely defensive, Tony crossed his arms over his chest and followed Pepper towards the open living area. "No. I wasn't sure what to give him and was planning on calling the pediatrician but _then you walked in._", he spat igniting an argument he'd never meant to start. 

"Yeah, because _you_ walked out of a board meeting to take a call and then _never came back_. I went to find you and you were gone, Tony.", Pepper stressed sounding more than a little defensive herself.

Placing his hands indignantly onto his hips, Tony raised his voice, maybe a little more than he should have but she was being fucking unreasonable. It wasn't like he'd taken off to god knows where in an Iron Man suit... _not that she could have put that past him _but the point was he hadn't. He'd gone to get his kid from school. "I needed to go get the kid!"

"You could have at least texted me!", Pepper shouted, nearly meeting his volume but unlike, Tony she was trying to remain aware of the child sleeping down the hall. "I don't ask that much of you. The least you could do would be to keep me in the loop. Communication, Tony. We've talked about this. You can't--"

"--The kid is my priority.", Tony cut in without thought but it seemed to be enough to get Pepper to snap her mouth shut. He wasn't sure if it was out of shock or if she'd actually decided that his point was valid. Probably the former. Either way, he knew he should have fucking stopped with that but he didn't. The words were coming out rapidly now and without measure. "I had to go and get him and I forgot to tell you. So what? You're a smart woman, you figured it out."

"Don't you stand there and start preaching to me about priorities.", Pepper warned. "I'm glad you're putting him first. You should. ...but you have other obligations as well. ...and while I have you, _presumably_, listening to me... _I shouldn't have to figure it out_. It would have taken you ten seconds to send me a text. Zero is you asked JARVIS to do it for you."

Growling in frustration, Tony turned around with the intention of grabbing a bottle scotch out of the cabinet behind him only to remember that it was fucking empty. Instead, he slammed his fists onto the counter. Taking a few measured breaths he attempted to clear his head. He needed to clear his head, he couldn't do this. "I'm sorry.", he finally uttered through his teeth and for the most part he'd meant it. He wasn't sorry for going to get Peter and he wasn't_ completely_ sorry for not telling her... but he was sorry he'd started a fight and that should count for fucking something. 

"What?", Pepper asked purely out of shock.

"I said I'm sorry, alright!", he snapped before telling her what he was sure she wanted to hear. "I should have said something before I left, I get it."

Sighing deeply, Pepper crossed the distance between them and placed a hand on Tony's tense shoulder. "I know you're worried about him.", she said with a slight smile. Despite the fact that the entire world viewed Tony Stark as a sarcastic, narcissistic, asshole... she knew better. She'd had the privilege of seeing the real him. His softer, more sympathetic side. Not that he wasn't the other things too... but this... this was the part of him she thought she could fall in love with. "I'm going to leave you to him. Let me know if you need anything."

Allowing himself to relax, Tony leaned into Pepper's touch for just a moment before stepping away and clenching his jaw. "I need to be home with him for a few days.", he said, assuming that was going to start the fight all over again but it didn't.

"I know. I'll make it happen.", Pepper said with a soft smile. "Let me know if you need anything else."

Nodding his head, Tony took another step back and watched as the woman started towards the door. Part of him wanted to call her back, to ask her to stay but he couldn't find the words. Instead, he straightened his back and looked towards her with admiration. He didn't know what he would do without her. "Thank you, Ms. Potts."

"You're welcome, Mr. Stark.", Pepper returned with a smile a nod of her head. "Tell Peter that I hope he feels better."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Not quite an hour later, Tony had already spoken to the nurse's assistant at the pediatrician's office and sent Happy to get the advised children's cough remedy and fever relief. Peter had woken up coughing again and he was just starting to pour the teary eye's boy some more juice when JARVIS voice rang out into the room. "Sir, Mr. Rodrigez from Child Services has arrived and per your prior instructions I've already sent him up. He should be arriving at the door in three minutes. Shall I let him in?"

Tony's eyes shot up at that. Of all the fucking days... "Nope. I'll let him in.", he clipped before delivering the requested beverage and thoroughly washing his hands, finishing just in time to be able to open the door the moment the man knocked. "This isn't a good time for me."

"Well, It's an excellent time for me, so if you'll step aside, we need to get started.", the weasely looking man stated without heat or humor. It was all business. 

Frowning, Tony did step aside but not without complaint. "Can we not do this another time?"

"We don't schedule these visits. Not even for you. ...and I know that you know that already.", the man bit back, already walking towards the kitchen with his clipboard in hand. 

  
"Well, how about you surprise another day. Maybe you could even bring me some flowers next time.",Tony snapped in annoyance. His kid was in the other room feeling like shit and that already had him on edge. He wasn't prepared to deal with this level of an invasion of his privacy at the moment. 

  
"This is serious Mr. Stark. If we don't get this second visit documented it's just going to make the process take even longer.", the man warned and Tony felt his aggravation flare. "What could you possibly have going on that's more important than this?"

It wasn't like this was intentional and he sure as shit didn't want to draw out the process, he just wanted to take care of his kid, damn it. "The kid's home, sick! It's not like I'm trying to get out of this. If I was I would have done something before you went through my underwear drawer t_he first time_. What are you even looking for in there?", he groused back. 

  
"I'm very sorry to hear that Peter isn't feeling well but are you sure you want to start getting snarky with me right now?", the man asked with seriousness to his tone that it caused Tony to cringe. Typically he lived and breathed quips and snappy remarks. It was a hard habit to break. Especially when he was as anxious and irritable as he was at the moment but he knew he couldn't risk pissing this guy off. He was going to have to back down but before he could say anything else, Happy was walking through the door.

"Hey, Boss. I got the Tylenol but they didn't have the cough medicine you wrote down so I talked the pharmacist and got... this... instead.", Happy began before his words trailed off at the sight of the social worker. Just one look and he knew it was the one that Tony had hated with a passion. The tension in the room was almost palpable. "I didn't mean to interrupt.", he added, handing Tony the bag and heading towards the door. 

"Thanks, Hap.", Tony said with a sigh. He wanted nothing more than to beg the other man to stay but he was well a-fucking-ware that he had to do this on his own. Rather than turning back towards the social worker to continue the disagreement, he took the bottles out of the bag and started reading the tiny-ass print on the labels. He poured a dose into each little cup, checking and double-checking the measurement and then unceremoniously left the room to give them to Peter. It wasn't like the man needed him there to stand there while he dug through all of his shit. 

"Who's here, Tony?", Peter asked with apprehension clear on his face as he tried to hold back the cough that was clearly building in his throat. 

"Social worker.", Tony replied as a brief expiation before handing over one of the small cups. "Here, take this. It's supposed to help."

Peter smelled it and wrinkled up his nose but drank them both, one after the other, all the same. Something, Tony was eternally grateful for. He wasn't sure he wanted to deal with any kind of melt-down in front of the person who's sole job, was to judge him. For a few minutes, he sat at the edge of Peter's bed and watched him start to close his eyes. He knew the social worker was still sniffing around his house and that he should _probably_ be there to answer questions but he couldn't bring himself to give a singular fuck. 

Just as he was about to doze off leaning on the kid's headboard, the social worker stuck his head in the room. "Mr. Stark, I need to look around this room really quickly. Then I'll need you to unlock the liquor cabinet, answer a couple of questions and that'll be it.", he said quietly and Tony could almost see the man's face soften. 

"Sure.", Tony groggily replied before reaching over to adjust the blankets over his kid's body. He really hoped that Peter stayed asleep for this part. He wouldn't like the idea of someone he didn't know going through is things. As it were, he didn't even need to worry about it. The social worker, simply peeked in a few drawers, looked at the outlets and smoke detector and then walked out, Tony right behind him. "There's nothing in the cabinet. I've been sober for nearly two months.", he said while entering the code to open it for the man to see for himself.

"That's an improvement.", Mr. Rodrigez, causally noted, before moving on. "I noticed that you replaced the smoke detectors. That's good as well. The fridge seems well stocked and everything is clean. My only question is home security--"

"--Are you seriously questioning me on my ability to keep my own home safe? You do know who I am, right?", Tony snapped in disbelief. He was fucking Iron Man for Christ's sake. How was this even a fucking question?

"With your efforts to make sure the entire world knows who you are... yes. _I'm well aware._ I'm also well aware that I watched another person walked right into your home without notice. Do you not lock the doors?"

"Jesus Christ. That was my friend and yeah, he has access to the place. He helps me out with the kid.", Tony replied in disbelief. It wasn't like a kidnapper or fucking prostitute had wandered in off the streets. "Why are you even worried about this. You couldn't even get up the private elevator without my AI giving you permission... by proxy, of course. No one gets up here unless I say so. This place is probably more secure than Fort Knox."

"No need to get an attitude. It was just a question and I've made note of your security measures.", the man said with causal authority as he gathered up his things and walked towards the door. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Stark. You should hear from Ms. Leavell in a few days. I hope Peter feels better soon."

Once he was gone, Tony stood there staring at the closed door. He was one step closer to being able to call Peter his, in every sense of the word and he couldn't wait.


	13. Finally There

Peter was not ready to go back to school for the last day by any stretch of the imagination. The 'cold' had quickly progressed into bronchitis and at one point there was a concern that it could turn into pneumonia. It took a little over a week of antibiotics and steroids to get everything under control but the breathing treatments lasted for two more weeks after that. The only good or seemingly good that had come out of it was that at some point the kid, in the midst of all his misery had started calling Tony, daddy. 

He'd thought it was a mistake the first time. It had been the middle of the night when JARVIS notified him that Peter was in distress. At first, he thought that was odd because usually, Peter came to him if he was upset. As such, he hurried across the hall to find Peter somewhere between coughing and crying and sitting in the middle of a wet bed. The latter was somewhat surprising because that hadn't happened in over two weeks but what he was really concerned about was the way the kid sounded like he couldn't fucking breath. "JARVIS? What do I do?", he asked in deep apprehension as he carefully patted the boys back, noticing that it felt entirely too warm. 

"Master Peter's temperature is currently resting at a manageable one-hundred and one point four degrees Fahrenheit. I suggest a warm bath--", the AI started but Tony cut him off in his near panic. He kept imagining the kid passing out on him and it was enough to make his heart jump up into his throat. The fact that the kid was covered in piss was the least of his concerns. 

"--I can clean him up later! How do I help him breathe!", he shouted causing Peter to flinch. "I'm sorry, Buddy. I just don't know what to do. I'm trying."

"The humidity from the warm water with help loosen the mucus and relax his muscles. I also suggest that you re-administer the fever reducer and consider seeing the pediatrician in the morning.", the AI finished, completely unfazed by his creator's outburst. 

By then, Peter coughing had eased into tears alone and Tony was able to breathe again right alongside him. "Right.", Tony puffed out with relief. The kid wasn't fucking dying on him, he just needed to get his fever down and help him relax. He could do that. "You hear that, Pete? You're going to take a _warm_ bath this time.", he said before scooping the boy up and carrying him down the hall. "There you go. You get undressed, JARVIS is going to get your bath ready. Okay?"

Being tired and miserable, Peter slumped against Tony and began to quietly cry. "I can't do it.", he whined after making a lame attempt at unbuttoning his top. "You do it."

Taking a deep breath, Tony grunted in response. He'd made a point of never seeing the kid naked before and now the boy was flat out requesting it. He was uncomfortable as hell but at the same time, he realized that this was practically his kid now and maybe it wasn't weird anymore Except it was. It really fucking was but he did it anyway. He unbuttoned the five brightly colored buttons and hooked his thumbs in the sides of the boy's pants. After one more verbal confirmation that Peter really did want his help, Tony pulled them down and let the boy lean on to his shoulders as he stepped out of the sodden pants and underwear before climbing into the bathtub. As he did so, Tony made a point of not looking and once the kid was settled in the water he stood up to leave. He didn't get very far before he heard the water slosh as the boy rapidly stood back up and pitifully called after him. "Wait, Daddy! I want you to stay..."

_Daddy. _It took several seconds for that to sink in. He'd been waiting for it. He knew it was coming but it still struck him as... something. He wanted to say it was breathtaking but he didn't because this wasn't a goddamned Hallmark movie. He couldn't deny it though. It did take his breath away. Prepared for it or not, it was still a shock. "I'm right, here, kiddo.", he said when he finally got his senses back. Then he sat down beside the tub and started to instinctually pour cups of water over the boy's bare shoulders. All the while a small part of him was wondering if the kid even knew what he'd said. He seemed pretty out of it. "How's that feel? Nice, huh?", he murmured when it felt as though the room had grown too quiet. Peter nodded his head but his eyes started to droop with time and Tony was glad he was there, after all. Imagining the kid choking to death in his bed was bad enough, now he was picturing him, having drowned from falling asleep in the tub. His anxiety was already a bitch without those images being added to his list of things to keep him up at night. "Come on, Pete. Time to get out."

"I'm tired. I want to go to bed, Daddy.", Peter whined as he took Tony's hand in order to climb out of the tub without falling. 

It was then that Tony realized it hadn't been a mistake. Peter had meant to call him, Daddy and he smiled. "I hear you, baby ...but we need to get you dressed and take some medicine first.", he soothingly spoke while wrapping the kid up in a huge fluffy towel. "Then I guess you're sleeping in my bed for the rest of the night.", he added after some thought, normally he would deal with the bed while Peter cleaned up. That had obviously not happened this time.

Peter continued to call him 'Daddy' from that point forward and despite the shitty circumstances, Tony was actually sort of happy about the development. It felt as though he'd won a prize which was probably a weird fucking thing to think but it was like Peter had finally decided that he'd earned that title. It also made everything feel that much more real.

The next few days were filled with doctor's appointments and a few clumsy attempts at learning how to use a pediatric nebulizer. At some point during that time, Tony _had to go to work_ for a little while and he was thankful for Happy's willingness to step in. It was only for a few hours while he went over some new concept designs that were pushing their deadline for submission but he was oddly anxious about leaving Peter with anyone. Which was a goddamned change of pace but after the middle of the night scare and the two subsequent trips to the doctor, one that nearly turned into a trip to the ER...he supposed that was justified. Though Happy seemed to disagree.

"It's four hours, Tony and you said the kid's been fine for the last two days. Breathe, before we have to put the stupid elephant mask on you.", Happy said with mirth as he held up the little mask that attached to the breathing machine. 

"Har har. You're a funny guy Happy.", Tony said with a roll of his eyes. He had to admit the humor was helping to ease his mind. "Speaking of the stupid elephant mask, he's due for his next treatment in two hours. instructions are beside it but the kid pretty much knows how it works at this point. Oh, and He gets a popsicle after if he doesn't complain the whole damn time."

Happy nodded his head and smiled. "Bribery at it's finest.", he teased. He understood why the man was going it though. It was probably fairly difficult to keep a squirmy seven-year-old still with a mask blowing steam in his face on for twenty or so minutes at a time several times a day. He would have bribed him too.

"Positive reinforcement.", Tony returned as if that should have been obvious. He wasn't bribing the kid. 

"What?", Happy finished in uttered amusement. 

"Positive reinforcement.", Tony repeated with one hand raised in annoyance. "Bribery is when you pay someone off to do something negative. I'm not doing that. What I'm doing is rewarding him for not being a pain in my ass.", he explained and then to his further annoyance, the man laughed. 

"Okay, Boss. You got it.", Happy replied, still chuckling. He wondered which book that came out of. Before he could ask, Peter came down the hall still wearing his pajamas. 

"Daddy?", he asked with a sigh. 

Turning around to meet the boy's eyes, Tony smiled. As much as he'd hated the idea of being referred to as the boy's father when it first came up, he was pretty sure he would never get tired of hearing Peter call him that. "Yeah, kiddo?"

Peter shuffled on his feet and looked at Tony nervously. "You're just going downstairs, right?", he asked with obvious trepidation despite the fact that Tony had gone over the plan with him several times over the last twenty-four hours. The moment, Pepper had come to inform him that he couldn't miss this deadline he'd started preparing the boy for it. 

"Yeah, Bud. I'll be right downstairs. You'll be okay with Happy, though.", he assured with a smile and was extremely pleased when the kid nodded his head rather than cry. That was a huge fucking improvement. Then again maybe the frequent warnings the counselor had suggested a while back had done the trick. Either way, there were no tears and that was a big deal.

"Mm-hmm.", Peter calmly replied before taking another deep breath and looking towards his bedroom. "I'm going to go play in my room. Will you tell me before you leave?"

"Of course.", Tony promised as if he would ever leave without telling the kid good-bye. Once Peter had bounced back down the hall, he turned around to face, Happy who looked five seconds from bursting with glee.

"When did _that_ happen?", he asked with mirth. He'd been around a few times in the last few days but that was the first time he'd heard Peter address, Tony, as anything.

"When did what happen?", Tony asked in confusion. The kid had been staying with Happy without an argument for weeks now. Not overnight yet but it was worlds better than it had been even a month ago.

Tilting his head in curiosity, Happy chuckled. "When did you become, 'Daddy'?"

"Oh.", Tony replied with honest surprise. He'd not realized that the man hadn't heard Peter call him that yet. While the address still made his heart sing, it had also become...normal. "Uh, last week. After the whole, scare the shit out of me in the middle of the night debacle.", he easily explained. 

Nodding his head, Happy crossed the room to take a seat that the counter. "I wondered when that was going to happen.", he said with a smile. "The timing certainly makes sense."

Huffing a laugh, Tony joined his friend at the counter. "Well, everything that happens with me happens the middle of a fucking crisis so there's that.", he replied with a genuine smile. It seemed like nothing in his life could be without fucking drama. Good or bad.

"That's true.", Happy happily agreed. It seemed as though nothing his friend did could come easily. 

A few days later it became obvious that Peter was doing much better and that was the end of that particular shit-show, though it wouldn't be the last of its kind, they would go through round after round of similar situations before the kid hit thirteen but he didn't know that yet. What he did know was that it was summer break and he had nowhere to send the kid during the day. Outside of a few short vacations and some appointments to see the counselor during those two months, he not ever worked that particular problem out. That meant that every single program of value was filled and what was left just weren't good enough. There was no way in hell he was sending his kid to a public daycare. 

The second that realization hit, Tony groaned in exasperation and dropped his head so heavily onto the counter that he wasn't convinced it wouldn't bruise. Dear, god, it was always fucking something. He'd figure the fuck out though. He didn't have a choice not to. Then before he could bang his head onto the counter again, Peter came into the room, called him Daddy and asked him if he was okay. After that, the inconvenience didn't seem quite so bad. 


	14. Change of Pace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Completely unrelated note: Grammarly tells me I've written over 10,000 unique words this week. 😬 Apparently I'm in the 99th percentile in that. 😂

It took a grand total of three days, eleven phone calls, four interviews, a giant fucking migraine, and several signed non-disclosure agreements to get Peter's summer care taken care of. With the assistance of a highly rated home child care agency, he'd been matched with several '_child care specialists_'. He met with each one of them personally for the sole purpose of narrowing the field down the ones he could tolerate before bringing Peter into the mix. 

Every single candidate was CPR and first aid certified but outside of that, they all had varying levels of education. Oddly enough he ended up going with the one that had the impressive credentials. Peter seemed interested in her and honestly, he didn't give a flying fuck what kind of degree she did or did not have as long as he could trust her with his kid for a few hours a day. ...Which the agency had assured him that he could. As had Happy... and Pepper... and Rhodey... and the counselor... and Ms. Leavell who sounded a little more amused than Tony would have liked when he asked for her opinion.

At the counselor's advice, Tony had the young woman come to stay at the house for a few hours while he was there so that Peter could get acclimated to her. It felt fucking weird to have some strange woman in the house looking after Peter while he was right there to do it himself. Especially when the child kept looking to him rather than her when he wanted something. It wasn't just a matter of him being shy either, though that didn't help. The fact was, that outside of school and the occasional visits with him, the kid had never been in any sort of childcare before. May and Ben had always adjusted their schedules so that one of them would always be home with him. While he couldn't offer that same sort of arrangement, this was the next best option. Peter didn't have the leave the comfort of his home and Tony didn't have to deal with any overcrowded, underrated and probably extremely gross summer programs. 

During that first visit, Tony sat in his chair and watched the young woman play some sort of board game with Peter. All the while, he pretended to be paying more attention to the tablet in his lap than what they were doing. He kept his eyes down and smiled as the woman tried her damndest to get the kid to engage in any sort of conversation. There were a few minutes where he thought she might have actually succeeded. He could hear Peter explaining the rules to his favorite game after the woman pretended to not understand them. It was a clever trick but it didn't last long. Soon after, the kid was tapping him on the knee. 

"Daddy? Can I have a snack, please?", Peter tentatively asked, glancing over his shoulder at babysitter the whole time. 

Smiling softly, Tony pulled his hands back so that Peter couldn't latch onto them as he knew he wanted to and sighed. "You need to ask Nora. She's in charge of you right now, remember? She's going to take care of you tomorrow while I work."

"Yeah, but you're not working today and I want you to do it.", Peter countered with a small stamp of his foot and Tony wasn't really sure what to say. The kid wasn't wrong. He was there but at the same time, he was literally paying out the ass to have the woman there, doing those kinds of things. He just hated the way it was making Peter look so uncomfortable. However, at the end of the day, he really needed the kid to get used to someone besides himself and Happy looking after him. Even if it was only for two months. Then he looked towards Nora who looked back at him and smiled before walking towards the kitchen. 

"Peter? Can you show me around the kitchen? I bet you know where all the good snacks are.", the young woman called out and Tony begrudgingly gestured for Peter to follow her. Then aftet one last pleading look, Peter slowly made his way towards the refrigerator to point out the pudding cups and drinkable yogurts. 

~o~o~o~o~o~

At the end of the day, it hadn't been a complete disaster and Tony was reasonably comfortable leaving Peter in her care the next day. He was especially glad the next morning, when his departure didn't lead to any significant drama and he came home to find his kid happily coloring at the kitchen table. It turned out that Nora was the perfect addition to their little village. Between her watching Peter during the week while he got some work done and Happy watching him some evenings so that he could go to an occasional AA meeting, Tony was starting to wonder if he could talk the kid into a night away from home. God knows, he could use some time to himself and the more he thought about it the more the craved it leading him to bring it up one night during dinner. "You know? It's summer and you haven't seen Ned in weeks.--"

"--Can he come over!", Peter asked hopefully making Tony sigh. He knew the kid had been counting down the days until he could invite his friend back but still wasn't sure _he_ was prepared for that.

"No, Buddy. I was thinking that you might want to go over there I could call his mom and you two could have a sleepover.", he tried to casually suggest but the more he spoke the more he wanted the kid to just fucking agree to spend the night somewhere else. The possibility alone was enough to lead him into a desperate attempt to bait the kid into going along with it. "I could buy you brand new pajamas and everything-- I could buy you guys matching pajamas! ...and a new lego set to work on together--", he rambled, spouting out incentives as they crossed his mind all the way up until Peter finally spoke.

"--Okay.", Peter said and all Tony could think was _halle-fucking-lujah. _They were finally there and he could feel his body tensing up with anticipation. 

"Okay? You want to go?", Tony asked with cautious enthusiasm. He didn't want to push the kid into something he was ready for but at the same time, he didn't want to give the boy too much of an opportunity to back out. It was was a fine line but he was so close to being able to get the hell out of the house that he had literal fucking goosebumps crawling up his spine as he waited for the boy's confirmation. Once he'd received it, he sighed in relief. "Alright, I'll call his mom after we're done eating."

~o~o~o~o~o~

Friday evening as Tony was helping Peter pack his bag he could practically tastes the kid's growing apprehension. "It's one night, kiddo. You're going to stay up late, driving Ned's parents crazy and then I'll be there to get you up before lunch.", he said as he haphazardly folded up the newly purchased matching pajamas and promised lego set into the bag while Peter collected everything else.

Peter nodded his head and bit his lip. "What if I want to come back here?"

Tony _knew_ that the kid had never come home from Ned's house in the middle of the night before and was pretty sure the boy just wanted to hear that there was a plan, just in case. Probably one that didn't involve Happy and ended with him sleeping in the master bedroom beside him but that wasn't going to be the case. He was going out. Through hell or high water... _he was going out_. Happy was on stand-by for emergencies. "Then Happy will come to get you and bring you back here.", Tony replied without missing a beat. 

Peter scrunched up his face and looked at Tony in confusion. "What about you? Where are you going?"

"Out.", Tony curtly replied. His plan was to go sit in a bar drinking_ sparkling water_ because he couldn't have a real fucking drink and then see where the night led him. Hopefully into a hotel room accompanied by a hot piece of ass but he couldn't exactly tell the kid that.

"Out where? To a party?", Peter asked and Tony could see the wheels in the kid's head turning. It was clear that the child was trying to figure out why he'd been given such a vague answer. He'd never really left him without some sort of explanation and not having one was clearly making the boy feel uneasy.

Sighing deeply, Tony reached out to pat the boy on the shoulder and tried not to let any amount of guilt seep in. "Something like that... but Happy will be around in case you need to come back home and I'll call Ned's mom later to check on you.", he assured, hoping that a bedtime phone call would be enough to keep his kid's lingering separation anxiety at bay. 

Peter frowned and flopped down across his bed, clearly dissatisfied with that plan. "When can I have my own phone?", he asked with a whine. "Then I could call you whenever I wanted to."

"We can talk about that later.", Tony replied already knowing full well that he wasn't about to give the kid an actual phone. He wasn't even eight yet where exactly was he going to go that he needed a phone? Nowhere, that's where _because he was a child_... there was always an adult present and a phone available. Not wanting to get into any of _that_ at the moment, he tried to rapidly change the subject by grabbing the backpack and tossing it over his shoulder. "Ready to go? You have Jojo, right?"

Not long after that Tony was dropping Peter off at his friend's house and pulling into a high-class hotel with an even more high-class bar. He adjusted his shades and sauntered in like he fucking owned the place. Then he demanded a sparkling water with lime and sat down in one of the more prominent corners of the bar. It didn't take long for people to take notice of him and for the women to start making their appeals. As one of them sat on his knee he could smell the rum on her breath and it made his mouth water. He had to keep telling himself he was there for the sex and not the booze. 

He flirted and bought drink after drink for different women for quite a while. They took turns resting their head on his shoulder, sitting in his lap and offering him a night he would never forget. Each whispered promise came with a whiff of alcohol that made his brain fuzzy with a longing that went beyond an intimate night in a rented bed. Eventually, he ended up calling for a shot because just one wouldn't hurt. He could have one, swish it around in his mouth and allow the flavor to coat his tongue before swallowing it down and that would be enough.

As he held the small glass between his thumb and forefinger he took in a deep breath, looked around at his company and smiled. Then just before he tipped it back, he felt a buzz in his pocket. It was a text from Ned's mom. 'The boys wanted me to send you this.' it read and an image file quickly followed. He opened it up to find a picture of Peter and Ned sitting proudly behind a newly built Lego space shuttle, both wearing their matching Star Wars pajamas. Then all of a sudden the shot didn't look nearly as appealing.

Well, that was a fucking lie, it still looked fucking amazing. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Three months. It had been three months and he'd managed to keep himself in check. There had been some close calls but none as close as this and he wondered if he should bite the goddamned bullet and call someone. He could feel that damn 'three-month' coin burning him through his pocket and knew he should but he didn't. Instead, he excused himself to the restroom, shot still in hand and stood in front of the mirror. "Fucking... Shit. What are you doing Stark?", he asked himself out loud before lifting the glass to his nose for a whiff and then dumping its contents down the sink. 

That seemed to be his cue to get the fuck out of there. Apparently sex was off the table for the evening as he hurried past the array of women who would have been more than happy to accommodate his every whim. That's all he could think about as he hastily walked down the sidewalk towards his car and drove off. The plan had been to go home, call Peter, spend some time alone in his own room _taking the edge off_, so to speak, and then heading down to the lab to pull an all-nighter. That's now what happened though.

He was nearly back to the tower when he spotted a familiar car parked in front of a small restaurant. Pulling in beside it he saw the silhouette of Pepper Potts through the window. It looked like she was alone and he considered going inside. Pretending to have run into her by chance. That wouldn't be a complete lie but it was a risk. She could be waiting for a date for all he knew. They didn't talk about those kinds of things. Typically it was all business... or chatting about Peter. Sure there was some flirting but hell, he flirted with fucking everyone. She knew that. She'd escorted more women out of his suite than he should probably ever fucking admit to. All of those thoughts and he still wanted to do it. There was just something about here... so he did.

"Pepper?", he asked as he walked in, "What are you doing here? Do you come here often?" The last question had slipped out but it seemed to make her smile so he played it off. "You meeting someone?"

"Nope. Just getting some dinner. Some of us had to work late tonight.", Pepper replied as she looked around as if she were trying to see behind his back. "Where's Peter?"

"Oh, he's at a friend's house. I had a night to myself and decided too... well... go out.", He replied, opting to leave out the part where he'd been five seconds from getting drunk while sizing up his option for a consensual night of wild sex. Those things no longer felt quite so pressing and the disappointment of not getting them was quelled by her presence. "Mind if I join you, Ms. Potts?"

"That would be lovely, Mr. Stark.", Pepper smiled back as she handed him a menu. He ended up ordering a fairly decent roast beef sandwich and that was followed up with several cups of coffee and a shared slice of cinnamon cream cake. For the first time in a while, the flirting was accompanied by light-hearted conversation and Tony couldn't take his eyes off of the way, Pepper would swipe her bangs out of her face as she laughed. That went on for a long time and when the cake was reduced to crumbs he realized he wasn't ready for them to part ways. Not when things were going so... well.

"Want to head back to my place? The kid's with his buddy until ten in the morning", he rapidly spat out once the waiter had cleared the table. He'd not meant for it to sound like an invitation for her to stay the night but that's how it came out. There was no backtracking and he was pretty sure he'd just fucked up but then she casually agreed and all he could think was that _maybe having sex that night wasn't off the table after all._ Though he spent the entire ride back to the tower feeling conflicted about that. 

Pepper wasn't some random woman he picked up somewhere. She was... Pepper. She was one of the few people he had that he could actually trust. She knew every nitty-gritty detail about his entire fucked up existence, had seen him at his absolute worst and yet she still stuck by him. Even when he treated her like shit. Even when he failed to communicate or disregarded her thoughts or opinions without consideration. She cared about him and he wasn't sure that was worth risking for the sake of a one night stand so, he didn't pursue it. He simply escorted her to the couch where, after he had called Peter as promised, they spent the evening talking. Then, at some point, Tony remembered the scrape book in his office and went to retrieve it. 

As expected Pepper knew exactly how to bind in the new pages and adhere a handful of images that Tony had pulled from JARVIS' A/V storage. It wasn't at all how he had planned on spending his first evening alone but it wasn't bad. He didn't end up have sex but he wasn't disappointed because he did have company and as he walked her to the door at half-past three in the morning he kissed her gently on the cheek. "Thank you, Pepper. This was... what I needed."

Smiling in return, Pepper rested her hand on the side of Tony's stubbled face. "We should do this again sometime.", she whispered before leaning in and kissing him in earnest. He could still taste her on his lips as he lay down in his bed and slipped a hand under the silky sheets. He still had a few more hours until he had to get ready to go pick up Peter and he really only needed to spend a couple of those sleeping.


	15. Domestic Bliss

As Tony drove across the city to go get Peter from his friend's house he couldn't get Pepper out of his head. He'd not expected the night to go in the direction it had gone and now he had a lot to think about. He kept hearing her last words to him over and over again in his head. 'We should do this again sometime', she had said and he couldn't agree more. For there to have been such a lack of _physical intimacy,_ the night had felt _extremely intimate_. This led to a bit of a conundrum because as a recovering alcoholic, he was _technically_ meant to be avoiding any new relationships. Something about Pepper didn't feel like a new relationship though. It felt like one that had always been there but they had both chosen to ignore it. 

By the time he reached Ned's front door, he'd already decided that he was willing to explore whatever was going on between himself and Pepper. He didn't really have anyone else... not like her anyway. He had two great friends but spending time with them was a completely different experience from the hours he'd spent on the couch with Pepper just... talking. The kiss at the end of the night had been unexpected. Very welcome... but unexpected none the less. Then his thoughts were interrupted as the front door swung open and a small body colliding with his legs.

"Daddy!", Peter excitedly shouted with a huge smile plaster across his face. 

"Hey, Buddy!", Tony greeted with equal enthusiasm. Oddly enough he was just as excited to see his kid as his kid was to see him. He'd had a very nice night and now he was ready for his boy. "Did you and Ned have fun?"

"Mm-hmm. Did you have fun at your party?", Peter asked as he reached up and all but demanded that he be lifted so that he could get his arms around Tony's neck.

"Wha--", Tony replied in confusion before it hit him what the hell kid was talking about and he laughed. "-There was no party, Buddy. I ended up having a friend come over instead but I had a lot of fun.", he replied as Peter continued to bury his face in his chest as if they had been apart for months rather than sixteen hours. He squeezed him in a little more tightly and then looked towards Ned's mother who was watching them from the background, presumably to give them some space. "Thanks for keeping him. He acted alright?"

Smiling softly the woman approached the door. "He was a little worried at first but after you called, he did great. A perfect angel.", she cooed while rubbing Peter's exposed arm. Tony thanked her once more, sent Peter to go collect his things and after that, they were in the car on their way back to the tower. 

Over the next few days, Tony spoke regularly to Pepper during the workday. Not just about work but about... _things_. Sometimes they talked about Peter, sometimes they talked about hobbies or music and sometimes they just playfully debated whether New York or Chicago style pizza was the best. Eventually, the passing conversations weren't enough and he wanted her to just sit down with him for longer than ten fucking minutes. 

He considered having Nora stay late one day and taking her out for coffee. Then he decided that it might be nice to invite her over. She could eat dinner with Peter and himself and then once the kid went to bed they could sit on the couch and just enjoy each other's company. With all of that in mind, he chased her down before she could disappear into another meeting. "Hey, Pep. Do you have a minute?", he asked, grabbing her gently by the elbow before she could slip inside.

"I'm working, Tony.", Pepper replied, obviously in a hurry. "Someone has to approve the next quarter's budget and I realize you may not remember this but that's my job now. It's part of the whole CEO gig... which_ I take seriously_ by the way."

Tony smiled and rolled his eyes at the little jab. She really was a far better CEO than he ever cared to be. "This'll only take five minutes."

Looking down at her watch, Pepper sighed. "You have three."

"Come to dinner Friday.", Tony practically ordered without hesitation. When Pepper looked at him with her eyebrows raised he amended quickly. He didn't want to come off as demanding or fucking needy. "I mean Peter and I would love it if you could join us for dinner Friday. He eats at six-thirty and after he goes to bed we could... talk.", he then suggested with a casual shrug of his shoulders. He didn't miss the way her eyes softened at the clarification. 

"Six-thirty, huh?", she asked. Tony swallowed and nodded his head. After what felt like entirely too fucking long she finally said something and he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "I think I can pencil you in.", she said with a gentle smile before dropping back to her more business-like self. Clearly his three minutes were up. "Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

"That'll be all, Ms. Potts. We'll see you Friday.", Tony said as he watched her hair swish to the side when she rapidly turned to enter the conference room, smiling stupidly the whole time. 

When Friday arrived, Tony was a wreck. He couldn't seem to stay focused in the workshop. Even his newest Iron Man suit designs and upgrades couldn't hold his attention. He didn't even know why he was so goddamned on edge. It was just Pepper for Christ's sake. There shouldn't be any fucking pressure there but for some reason there was. By the time he'd zapped himself for the eighth time while trying to wire a gauntlet, he tossed his tools aside and went back upstairs. 

As he walked in the door the first thing he noticed was that Nora was sitting at the kitchen table with Peter and there was paper every-fucking-where. "What are you two doing?", he asked once he'd pried the kid off of himself and managed to round the corner to further survey the mess.

"Nora knows how to fold up papers to make things like birds and flowers.", Peter explained before shoving something that resembled a small boat into his hands. "Look at it. I made a canoe.", he proudly announced as Nora smiled at them. 

Turning the paper over in his hands Tony looked at the table and saw how many failed attempts were scattered across it. The kid had been persistent, that was for certain. "It looks great, Pete.", he said softly leading Peter into an entire shpiel about all of the different things Nora was going to teach him how to make. Then towards the end, his face fell a little and his finger started to go up towards his mouth, a habit Tony had yet to get him to break. "What is it, Buddy?"

"I wanted to make Ms. Potts a flower but I couldn't do it. Do you think she would like a canoe instead?", Peter asked nervously. Which struck Tony as odd since the kid had literally nothing to prove. There were times that he wondered if Pepper liked the kid more than she liked him. He supposed there were probably times that she did. He was well aware that he was a fucking mess. 

"I think she would love that.", Tony replied once he'd pulled himself back out of his thoughts. Then he looked towards the young woman who had already started tidying up the papers and smiled. "Thanks, Nora. Since I'm home, you can go on and head out. I've got him from here."

It turned out that coming home had been the best possible decision. Peter was a far better distraction than any tech project was. They had already decided earlier in the week that they were going to make spaghetti but since there was time, they ended up making their own pasta too. The kitchen ended up covered in flour and drying noodles and Peter required an early bath as a result but it had been a lot of fun. 

When Pepper arrived at six-thirty on the dot, Peter greeted her at the door with damp hair and a paper canoe fisted in his hand. Tony called them into the kitchen where he was dutifully stirring a pot of marinara sauce and as soon as Pepper was close enough, he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. That made Peter squeal in childish disgust and which led him into scooping the little boy up to kiss every inch of his face as the boy laughed and tried his hardest to get away. Pepper was quick to swoop in and 'save' him and Tony called her a traitor as she walked off with his kid's hand in hers. A new feeling rose in his chest as he watched the two of them set the table together. It was all so... domestic. 

Dinner was filled with Tony telling Pepper about the upcoming vacation he'd planned for Peter. He'd settled on a week in Malibu since the adoption was still pending and he had been unable to obtain the necessary permission to take the kid out of the country. Though, Peter didn't seem to care where they were going. He was far more focused on the red sand bucket he'd been promised. 

"It sounds like you're going to have a lot of fun, Peter.", Pepper said as soon as she could get a word in. 

"Uh-huh. I've never been to the beach but I like the sand table at my school. Daddy said that if I like the sand table, that I'll like the beach just fine.", Peter explained with glee as Tony looked on with a smile. He'd only just told the kid about the trip a few days prior and while the child had seemed happy about it at the time, he'd not really exhibited any kind of excitement until then. 

"You're going to like jumping in the waves too.", he decided to throw out there because the kid seemed overly hung up on the sand at the moment.

Peter nodded in agreement but turned back to Pepper. "I love swimming but I'm not very good at it. That's why I get to pick a cool float, right Daddy?", Peter said and Tony was quick to pick up on the worried look Pepper was sending him from across the table. Apparently he wasn't to be trusted to keep his kid from being swept away by the ocean. 

Rolling his eyes because he wasn't fucking stupid, Tony began to defend himself. "Don't give me that look. I bought him a life vest. Of course, by me, I mean I sent him to the store with Happy but the point is, he has a life vest and won't drown.", he explained with sarcasm but it seemed to be enough to get her to stop looking at him like he was irresponsible and he decided that was enough. He was just about to change the entire goddamned subject when Peter dropped a giant fork full of spaghetti right onto his shirt. Kowing exactly how well _that_ was going to go over, he sighed and stood up to go get some paper towels.

"I need to take another bath, Daddy.", Peter whined as Tony continued to brush the loose noddles off of the boy's shirt and shorts. He wasn't even sure how the kid had managed to spill that fucking much. It was like the shit was multiplying, the more he wiped off the more appeared. It was fucking annoying.

"No, you don't.", Tony sighed out once he had cleaned up what he could and all that was left was a greasy orange stain. "Just use a washcloth to clean up and go ahead and change into your pajamas.", he suggested since the kid had just gotten out of the bath an hour and a half ago. Then again, he was pretty sure that bathtime was Peter's favorite part of the day. 

"...I want a bath...", Peter whined as he lifted his t-shirt and looked at where the sauce had seeped through. There were already tears starting to well up in his eyes.

Not willing to have that fight, Tony sighed. "Are you finished eating?", he asked defeatedly. Peter indicated that he was and Tony took his plate for him. "Alright, then. You can take a short bath but you don't need to wash your hair again, yeah?"

"Mm-hmm", Peter agreed before hopping off of his chair. "I'll be right back Ms. Potts!", he shouted as he darted down the hall. 

Pepper chuckled and looked at Tony questioningly. While he knew how Peter was about getting dirty, she didn't really have that same kind of experience with him. "What was that about?" 

Tony shrugged his shoulders and sat back down at the table and held his hands up in playful mock-exasperation "He's a clean freak. What can I say?"

They smiled at each other and finished their own plates alone at the table, while Peter cleaned himself up. Tony ended up letting the boy stay up just a little bit late so that they could play a game of Candy Land together. However, the moment Pepper triumphantly entered the Candy Kingdom, Peter was ushered off to bed, giving the two adults the rest of the evening to themselves. 

Once he had his kid tucked into bed, Tony went into the kitchen and poured himself and his companion a glass of the sparkling water he'd taken a liking to since giving up alcohol. It wasn't terribly sweet and had a light fizz to it. It was one of the recommended alternatives he'd learned about during one of the many AA meetings that he was still dragging himself to on a semi-regular basis. It was the little tidbits like that which kept him going. 

The rest of the night was spent just as he'd pictured it. He and Pepper sipping at drinks and talking on the couch. At some point, their laughter had woken Peter who came sluggishly creeping out of his room to see what was so funny. Tony escorted him to the bathroom and then back to bed but just as he was tucking the small boy under the covers he saw Peter's eyes drift towards the door where Pepper was standing there watching them.

"I'm sorry. I just... well, I wanted to tell Peter good-night.", Pepper sheepishly admitted. Though a tiny part of her had really just wanted to watch Tony interact with his soon-to-be son. The little boy made him so gentle and soft and nothing like the man he had been a few months prior... It was almost enchanting to watch them together. Then she shook herself from her thoughts and looked towards Peter who was rubbing his eyes and clutching his rabbit. "I'm sorry we woke you up sweetheart. We'll be quieter now, I promise."

"It's okay, Ms. Potts.", Peter yawned. "G'night."

Tony, who had been smiling at Pepper shifted his gaze towards his kid. "Good-night, Buddy. I'll see you in the morning.", he whispered before leaning down and kissing his forehead.

"Mm-hmm. 'night.", Peter sleepily agreed and was asleep before Tony ever left the room. Once he was back out in the hallway, he smiled at Pepper and took her by the hand before leading her back towards the couch. 

From there, the quiet conversation turned into soft kisses, that eventually led them into the master bedroom where, Tony, who was typically a fairly selfish lover, took the time to please his partner before himself. He wasn't sure if it was the boundless passion or the fact that he'd not been in bed with a woman in months but by the time he'd reached his climax, he was sure that he'd just had the most fulfilling sex of his life. With a glistening of sweat still coating their bodies, Tony leaned in and kissed Pepper on the shoulder. As he did so, he suddenly realized that Pepper wasn't a one night stand and that maybe that was the key element that had led to such a satisfying conclusion to their evening. He wanted this to last and he was willing to work for it. _He loved her._


	16. Playing Well With Others

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a friendly neighborhood reminder that this is canon-inspired and **not** canon-compliant. 😉

Pepper became a constant presence in the penthouse. Sometimes she came over early and left right after dinner, while other times she stayed long after Peter went to bed so that she and Tony could spend some more intimate, personal time together. Though, she never stayed for the entire night. They had both agreed that Peter waking up to find Pepper still in the house or more awkwardly, still in Tony's bed, would lead to confusion and entirely too many questions. As such, she always slipped off to her own apartment by five, leaving Tony to feel completely alone in his bed. He regretted absolutely nothing, though. The early morning disappointment was well worth the feelings of closeness and affection that preceded it.

It was roughly two and half weeks before Tony was set to leave with Peter on their vacation that he and Pepper's late evening conversations were interrupted by JARVIS announcing the arrival of Phil Coulson. While Tony was annoyed by the disruption, Pepper acted as though they were receiving a visit from an old friend. Perhaps to her, that's exactly what it was. They had gotten along well during the entire _'_Obediah is a murderous mutineer_' _fiasco while he was left feeling insulted and dismissed entirely. '_Doesn't play well with others' _

"Phil! What brings you here!", Pepper asked with an amount of enthusiasm that Tony was having trouble looking past. Maybe it was jealousy, maybe it was pettiness but he hated hearing her sound so... happy to see him.

"Uh... That's not Phil. His first name is 'Agent'.", he sarcastically clipped but all Pepper did was swat him gently on the arm and offer the other man a glass of sparkling water.

"I'm here on Avenger's business.", Phil announced without pause causing Tony to scoff. 

"Yeah well, it's well after consultation hours so... see you later.", he casually announced as he tried to ease the man out the door that he was still standing in front of. The man just shows up completely out of nowhere after ten o'clock and he's supposed to just drop everything for his fucking benefit? Surely he didn't think that was going to fucking happen, seeing as, you know, he doesn't play well with others...

"Tony... I'm looking for a little more than a consultation this time. Some of our agents have been compromised. We need your help.", the agent explained without much emotion. He made it sound like the agency hadn't turned him down with a laundry list of personal complaints.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to join your super-secret boy band.", he snarked as Pepper rejoined them, now holding two bubbling glasses. 

Seemingly unfazed, Phil held out a laptop and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, as it turns out, your expertise is required. Here take a look at this.", he insisted as he waved the information around in an attempt to get Tony to take ahold of it.

Glancing between the laptop and the man who was attempting to offer it to him, Tony quirked an eyebrow. "I don't like to be handed things.", he quipped. There was no fucking way he was giving up his evening for any kind of bullshit.

Rolling her eyes, Pepper stepped forward to exchange one of the cups she'd been holding for the digital device. "Well, I love to be handed things.", she said with a mild glare before then handing said device over to Tony "Thank you, Phil."

Tony begrudgingly stepped away to pull up the coded information. Once he'd gotten past the encryption the room filled with multiple holographic images that held enough fucking crazy to last him a lifetime. "Holy, shit. Are you serious?", he asked in what sounded more like awe than he'd wanted it too but holy shit... there was a lot going on there. "This is..."

"Big.", Phil supplied when Tony's words drifted off. 

Sighing deeply, Tony ran his hands through his hair. He couldn't drop this. It was too important, detrimental even. Ignoring it would likely cause more harm than good... and as an added bonus they'd called in Dr. Bruce Banner, as well. Having the opportunity to prod the man a little sounded like a good incentive... but there was Peter to consider. He couldn't just disappear into the night without causing a great deal of distress. "When do you need me? ...and where?", he asked defeatedly.

"Tomorrow. The Helicarrier leaves at eight.", Phil replied so matter-of-factly that it pissed Tony the fuck off. It was like the man didn't give a singular shit about anything else he might have going on.

"I can't do that! I have... _things_ that will need taken care of first.", Tony snapped but all the agent did was smile at him. That too was infuriating.

"I'm aware.", the man said knowingly before pulling up some sort of information on a small tablet-like device. "You're in the process of adopting a child, male, age seven, goes by the name of Peter Benjamin Parker, born on August the tenth--", he began and Tony was fuming. He'd been so careful to keep everything about Peter under wraps until reveling his identity became necessary. More than likely after the adoption was complete. No one should have had that kind of information. It was fucking classified.

"--How the hell do you know about him!", Tony snarled without holding back but again, the man seemed completely neutral to his response. 

"Easy Stark. We know _a lot of things_. That doesn't mean we're out to get you... _or him_, if that's what you're worried about. Besides...", Phil calmly replied, pausing to survey the room before his gaze came to land on Pepper's face. "He'll be in good hands."

Still not feeling great about the fact that _anyone_ had been able to obtain any information on his child _or his parental status_, Tony gave in. "I may be late but I'll be there.", he sighed out and when the man gave him a curt nod and exited the penthouse Tony threw himself down into a chair in front of the endless stream of articles and statistics. "JARVIS notify Happy that I need him ASAP and start analyzing this data for me. It's going to be a long-ass fucking night.", he moaned as he wiped his hand down his face and looked towards Pepper who was already collecting her things.

As Pepper crossed the room towards him he tried to smile. This was definitely not how he wanted to close out the evening with her. He'd imagined it ending a little more... _naked._ "I'll see you later. It looks like you need to finish your homework.", she said to him as she leaned in, kissed him on the cheek and whispered a few promises in his ear that made him gasp and smile. ...but only for a moment. There was a small part of him that was worried he was making some sort of a mistake. 

"I don't know if this is a good idea.", he uttered under his breath.

Sighing deeply, Pepper leaned and kissed him once more. "It probably isn't... but you're going to do it anyway.", she said with conviction and Tony knew she was right. He was going to do it anyway because he had too. There were so many convoluted details in the mess he'd been handed that he couldn't imagine anyone else being able to see it the way he did. His expertise really was required... they sure as shit wouldn't have called him otherwise. Though his misgivings were somewhat quelled with her next words. " Don't worry, though. Happy and I will hold down the fort.", she said and he knew that was true. Between Happy, Pepper, and Nora, Peter would be well cared for.

The next thirty-six hours ended up being a hot fucking mess. Peter, as was expected had a complete melt-down at the idea of Tony leaving. Not just leaving... but leaving as Iron Man... _for days_. Tony tried to reason with him that he h_ad to go_. ...That if he had the ability to do things like build an Iron Man suit and save lives, it was his responsibility to do so. Standing back and letting the bad things happen would be wrong. Those words seemed to do the trick as the angry sobs turned into frightened whimpers. Not exactly how he wanted to leave his kid but he kissed the boy's tear-streaked face and promised to return as soon as possible, anyway.

From there, Happy took over with promises of Burger King for dinner and he was off to meet up with SHEILD to play 'Avenger'. That's where the cluster-fuck really began. Some of the highlights being: finding out that the government was creating secret weapons using an unknown power source, said unknown power source being stolen by the God of Thunder's adopted bother and said adopted brother then going full tilt diva by setting up shop on top of Stark-fucking-Tower. Oh, and then there had been the aliens... _and the goddamned wormhole_. The one he'd flown into carrying a nuke that was meant to blow up the entire fucking state, telling himself, 'Don't die. Please, don't _fucking die..._', the whole time because he'd _promised_ Peter he would come home.

Speaking of Peter, he'd had no idea where he was during the worst of the shit-ass series of events. The moment he'd found out his home was compromised he'd sent Happy and Pepper and urgent message to evacuate the building as best they could but that their priority was to get Peter the fuck out of there, no questioned asked. 

The only _good_ that had come out of any of the entire fracas, outside of, you know, saving the city from being obliterated, was that he got to meet Bruce Banner. He seemed pretty zen for a guy with some serious anger management problems and frankly, he liked him. It helped that he was the second smartest person there, after him of course. Really, he was the only other person on the whole damn mission that seemed to understand what the fuck was going on. Of course, he'd also had the pleasure of meeting Captain-fucking-America. _Howard's golden boy. _That had been a less than amicable coming together but if he was being honest with himself, once he'd set his personal vendetta's aside, the man wasn't so bad.

In the end, the damage to the penthouse had been contained to the upper-most floor where he spent very little time anymore. The damage that had been done there was reparable and the moment he was done with the dozens of debriefings and had finished surveying the damage, he was hell-bent on finding his kid. As it were, Peter was safe and sound in a hotel room, just outside of New York, with Pepper and Happy. 

The second he stumbled in the door his arms were filled with Peter who was nearly hysterical. Pepper joined him hugging him gently from behind where he had knelt down to meet his kid on the floor as Happy looked on from across the room, relief clear across his face. It was at that moment that he realized what he'd put his family through. He didn't regret his decision to suit up and join the fight but he did regret the fact that it had put so much strain on the people he loved the most. The worst part was, he knew he would jump in next time as well, and the time after that, and the time after that... until the end of his days because he couldn't just sit back and watch it happen. He had to protect his family, his city and apparently... his world, simply because he had the ability to do so. 

He swallowed back the mixed emotions and focused on Peter alone. He pulled him in even more tightly and wound his bruised fingers into his hair as he whispered quiet reassurances that he was there. "It's okay, baby. I'm home now. Daddy's here. You're okay, Buddy. I came home...", he said over and over again until Peter had no more tears to offer and his breath began to hitch. It was then that he finally looked up at Pepper who had tears of relief in her eyes as well. "I'm sorry. ... but you know I had to do it.", he whispered.

"I know.", she whispered back through her own emotions and all Tony could think was how lucky he was. She could have been pissed. She had every right to be pissed but she wasn't. She seemed to understand that this was what being in a relationship with him was going to look like and she accepted it. He just hoped he never managed to fuck that up. She was a _gift. _

They stayed in the hotel for a couple more nights. Long enough for the construction crew to quickly restore the destroyed portions of the tower. The rest of the city was in shambles but he himself ended up funding the majority of the cleanup. Partially to keep alien tech out of the wrong hands but also because he felt like he owed that to the people. 

Despite everyone's efforts, Peter ended up seeing a video of Iron Man falling from the sky. Tony had desperately wanted to protect him from those images but they were _everywhere _and even he didn't have the power to control the news. It only took one look at that for the kid to realize exactly how close he'd come to losing another parent. After witnessing something like that, nightmares became inevitable..._for both of them_. That meant that Peter reverted back to sleeping in his bed with him on a nightly basis and with that came the disappointing realization that sex with Pepper was going to have to be tabled for a while. Then there was the separation anxiety. It was like the first week after the child's aunt and uncle had passed all over again. Peter became quiet and clingy and all Tony could do was hold him. For the first couple of days it was so bad that he couldn't even _fucking pee_ without the kid trying to follow him. 

However, if nothing else, Peter was _resilient_. While he would continue to sleep in Tony's bed, off and on, for quite some time, it only took a few long days for him to be able to start letting the man out of his sight without fear. That meant that things started to fall back into a normal rhythm fairly quickly and they were both able to ease back into a regular routine of Peter staying with Nora while Tony worked, within a week's time.

Not very long after that, it was time to start packing for California. Peter was still excited to see '_a whole 'nother state_' and Tony was excited to create some_ good_ memories with his kid. They were _both excited_ when Pepper agreed to join them there for the last couple of days, once she'd wrapped up work for the week. It seemed they were all in need of some downtime and what better place than Tony's Malibu mansion. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was clearly inconsistent with the movies _(but the whole piece is isn't it?)_ and maybe sort of unexpected... However, I felt like it was important to emphasize that Tony IS Iron Man in this series. I also really wanted to put the newly developing family through the paces. See how they held together and what makes all of them tick as a whole unit... you know?
> 
> Anyway... _I hope you didn't hate it_. Next week we will be back to our regularly scheduled fluff and Tony's usual brand of self-deprecation.


	17. California Here We Come

On the day they were to leave for California, Tony woke Peter up early and put him into his booster seat, still in his pajamas. He'd sort of hoped the kid would sleep on the way to the airport and maybe even for a little while on the plane but it definitely didn't work out that way. Instead, the little boy was wide awake and talking a mile a minute the entire time. However once Happy pulled up to the hanger, the child's posture changed immediately. He went from all smiled to completely tense in seconds. Tony tried not to read to much into it. He simply tossed the small backpack over his shoulder and walked around to the other side of the car to pull the kid out. "Alright, kid. This is it. We're going to go get on that plane and in a few hours... we'll be all the way on the other side of the United States.", he said with a smile but as the boy took his ever-loving time climbing out of his car seat he sighed. "Come on, Buddy, _We've_ _got to go._", he added but when took Peter's hand, in order to move him along a little more quickly towards the gate, the child dug his heels into the ground making him grunt in frustration. 

"Wait, Daddy!", Peter shouted as he squeezed Tony's hand and refused to take another step. "I gotta go to the bathroom, first.", he rapidly announced but Tony just rolled his eyes.

"Kid, there's a bathroom on the plane. Now, let's go. The more quickly we get on board the more quickly you can go pee.", he said as tugged the boy towards the waiting aircraft.

"_Wait._.. I need to get Jojo out of the bag.", Peter, still unmoving, pleaded next and Tony was sure he was about to lose his shit. They had a very small window of take-off clearance and the kid was being a pain in the ass. 

Taking a deep breath in order to keep himself from growling in frustration, Tony leaned down to scoop the kid up. "We're not unpacking this bag until after you've been to the bathroom and are buckled in your seat for take-off. Capisce?", he firmly replied just before Happy started bellowing across the tarmac for them to hurry up. After that, he quickened his pace but the closer he got to the stairs the harder the kid tried to squirm out of his arms. Suddenly worried that he was about to get peed on, Tony set the boy on his feet and tried to take his hand instead. "_C__ome on, _Pete...", he strained when Peter refused to climb the steps. "I thought you needed to pee."

However, rather than agreeing or even disagreeing... Peter burst into tears. "I don't wanna fly in the airplane!", he cried and then suddenly, Tony understood. He wasn't sure why it hadn't come up before or why he hadn't thought of it himself. Of course, the kid would be afraid to fly. He was surprised he wasn't afraid to ride in cars too. Though part of him wasn't convinced that Peter really understood that the accident that claimed his parents and the one that claimed his aunt and uncle were different. He vaguely remembered having correct the boy that the most recent 'accident' was in a car and not an airplane the day he'd had to break the news to him. 

Now, that he knew the boy had simply been trying to delay getting onto the plane and nothing else, he picked him back up and held him tight. "Hey, it's okay, Buddy. I've got you. We can wait a minute, alright... Just calm down and breathe, baby...", Tony cooed as the boy cried into his shoulder. Then once he had soothed Peter enough to get him to listen he smiled, "Now, let's take a look at this airplane, hmm? You see what it says right there on the side?", he asked as they walked towards the tail of the aircraft.

"It says Stark on it.", Peter replied through a few sniffs.

Tony smiled and nodded his head. "That's right. That's because this is _my plane_ and do you know who's going to fly my plane for us?", he asked and when the boy shrugged his shoulders he laughed. "Happy's going to fly us all the way to California. You trust us, right?", he asked hoping to hell that the kid said yes. If he didn't then he was fucked... but when Peter said that he did trust them, Tony let out the breath he'd been holding. "Good, because we're going to keep you safe, Buddy. Now, we're going to get on the plane and buckle in. Then we'll get Jojo out and you can hold him really tight and look out the window."

Peter hesitantly agreed and Tony carried his still shivering kid up the steps, double-checked that he didn't actually need to use the bathroom and set him down in the seat right beside his before fishing the rabbit out of the backpack. Then as the plane ascended, the hand that wasn't holding onto the stuffed animal, fiercely grasped his and he smiled. "We're okay. We're going to have so much fun when we get there... did I tell you about the workshop at the mansion? It has so many cars,_ it's crazy_...", he said as he began to describe everything he could think of in great detail, anything to distract the boy from his obvious anxiety and after a while... _it worked_. 

It took a full hour of constant rambling and smooth sailing but eventually, Peter dozed off in his seat and Tony sighed in relief. As much as he liked to talk, he was starting to get tired of the sound of his own voice and thanked every deity he could think of when the kid's eyes had finally fucking closed. However, the reprieve only lasted for so long before his phone rang and he groaned at the name on the caller ID. 

"Ms. Leavell. To what do I owe the pleasure of speaking with you on this fine Tuesday morning?", he asked with forced enthusiasm. They had spoken nearly daily since the whole 'Battle of New York' bullshit. Apparently the state was going to be _reevaluating his ability to care for a child_. He'd been told not to worry about it, that his application and safety nets were sound but of course, he fucking did. He worried about it every goddamned minute or every goddamned day and he wasn't prepared to start his vacation with any more goddamned bad news.

"I was calling because I remembered that you were heading out on vacation today. I wanted to make sure you had someone collecting your mail for you.", she said with humor and Tony rolled his eyes.

"I always have someone that collects my mail. Hell, I even pay them to sort it for me. I haven't seen a coupon mailer or random catalog in years.", he clipped back. He knew damn well she wasn't calling to make sure his mail wasn't piling up and wished she would get to the fucking point. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Because I wanted to make sure you were going to get the letter I sent out yesterday.", she said with a tone that was begging him to question her.

Sighing, Tony ran his hands down his face. "And what letter would that be?", he sarcastically mocked. He knew he probably shouldn't have but he was tired and out of sorts. He'd not been expecting to start the day by helping a seven-year-old through what he was pretty sure was a fucking panic attack and now the caseworker was being intentionally cryptic. It was infuriating.

After a moment's pause, Ms. Leavell, solemnly replied with a simple, "It went through.", and Tony couldn't figure out what she meant by that. It seemed like there were a hundred things up in the air at the moment and 'it went through' wasn't fucking specific enough.

"What went through?", he finally snapped when nothing seemed to add up in his head. 

There was another pause before the social worker said anything else and that had Tony on fucking edge. The entire process had been long, drawn-out and full of so many ups and downs that it was enough to make his head swim. He was so ready for it to be over that he could scream. All he wanted was for the state to get its head out of its ass and give him the kid. Which is why the next words out of the woman's mouth made his breath hitch. "The adoption, it's been approved. You have a court date in couple of weeks to finalize it.", she said and he wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry.

"I... he's mine?", he asked stupidly once enough time had passed for the words to sink in properly. 

The social worker chuckled, clearly pleased with his reaction. "_Almost_ but let's be honest, he's been yours since day one.", she said with conviction. Tony knew she was right. He wouldn't have fought so goddamned hard to keep him had he not been but this was different. The kid was about to be legally his for the rest of their lives and for some reason he was suddenly worried about the fucking _lack_ of state intrusion. 

"What about... I mean, will I still be hearing from you. After the adoption I mean...", he asked, trying to sound more at ease than he felt but as much as he complained about the entire damn process the idea of not having her reassurances at his fingertips sounded terrifying. He'd gotten used to having her available to answer all of his stupidest questions. 

While Tony was sitting back nervously waiting for an answer, Ms. Leavel was laughing. "Are you going to miss me Stark?", she quipped but when her only response was a few grunts she had mercy on him and just answered the question. "Yes, I'll be periodically checking in with you over the next twelve months and even after that, you'll be able to reach out to Department of Children's Services, should you ever be in need of anything. ...but all of that is outlined in that fancy letter I was telling you about.", she explained before softening her tone. "Now, go have a good time with your son. Just make sure you check in with me when you get back. I'll need you to confirm the court date.", she added and that's where the call ended.

Tony sat in his seat looking at the sleeping boy for several minutes, resisting the urge to scoop him up and hug his so tight that he would have to beg for air. Yet rather than wake him, he reached over and smoothed the boy's sleep tangled curls and thought to himself, '_My son.._.' 

The remainder of the flight wasn't so bad. Peter eventually relaxed enough to watch a few movies on a tablet while snacking on some hummus and pretzels, then when it was almost time to land, Tony had the kid change into his regular clothes. Soon enough, they were getting off the plane and into a car. The ride to the mansion wasn't long but they did stop for a late lunch and when they pulled up the long driveway, Peter's eyes lit up as if they had just entered some kind of magical kingdom. "Is that a-- is that your _house_?", the boy asked in childish wonder. 

"It's our house.", Tony gently corrected. The boy had no trouble calling the penthouse 'home' but he supposed this was a little different. This wasn't a glorified apartment on top of a large building, it was a house that spanned over several achers. To a kid, it probably looked more like a hotel resort than a home. "You have a bedroom in there too." Peter nodded his head and followed closely behind as walked towards the front door. The oo's and ah's continued as Tony took him on a tour and pointed out the more pertinent rooms such as the kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms but then as he walked the boy towards the backdoor he heard a quiet squeal and laughed.

"There's a pool! You didn't tell me that there was a pool!", Peter exclaimed as he bounced on his toes and practically danced with giddy excitement. "Can we go swimming? Please?", he begged and it was then that Tony realized how much the kid_ really_ loved the water. 

"Sure, Buddy. Let's go get changed.", Tony replied and laughed with delight when the child took off so quickly across the tiled floor that his footfalls echoed through the entire room. He'd not seen that amount of sheer _joy_ radiating from Peter in a long time. Not even when Ned was at the penthouse and he'd heard the child laugh endlessly with his friend. Watching him get so wound up over something as simple as being able to swim made it easy to forget all of the heartaches they had been through over the last few months. Even if it was only for a little while.

They spent the entire rest of the day by the pool. Peter wore his life vest and fearlessly jumped into the pool over and over again as he shouted 'Watch this, Daddy!", each time. Eventually, the perpetual motion turned into lazily playing with a few toys on the shallow steps and as the sun began to set, Tony was finally able to pull the boy out of the water and wrap him in a huge fluffy towel. Even dinner that night was eaten at one of the umbrella-covered tables that lined the patio. 

The next few days went by in a similar fashion. Entire days were spent lounging by the pool and it took a great deal of effort to convince the kid to leave the mansion to go to the beach. Having never really been to the seaside, Peter was nervous about going into the waves at first. Choosing, instead to dig in the sand and watch a few tiny fish he'd spotted in a tide pool. With Time, Tony managed to lure him into the water and that was it. Once he was in, it was like pulling teeth to get him back out. "I swear I think you would happily live in the water. Are you sure you're not part fish?", he'd asked at one point and the question had been met with giggles.

"No! You can't be part fish, Daddy! You can't be part, _anything_ like that! That's not even _possible!_", the boy had laughed as he wrapped himself up in a towel and Tony laughed alongside him.

Before either of them knew it the weekend snuck up on them and Pepper arrived to spend the next two nights. Tony watched Peter leap into her arms the moment she walked through the door before greeting her as well and he was sure that, at that moment, his life felt absolutely perfect. Which left him feeling antsy. He couldn't remember a time where he felt so happy for so long and there was a tiny part of him that was waiting for the next fucking disaster to strike but it never did. Their time together was nothing short of utopian.

On their last full day there, they spent hours on the beach. For a while, Tony stayed on the sand and watched as Peter ran through the surf with Pepper. It didn't take long for their laughter to bait him into the water as well and soon both he and Pepper had Peter by the hands, swinging him up and over the swelling waves. Anyone looking at them would have thought them to be a perfect little family. Especially when he scooped Peter up onto his hip and gently kissed the woman beside him. "Are you sure we can't stay another week?", he teasingly suggested.

"Yeah! We should stay here for a whole _month_!", Peter returned, causing both adults to laugh. 

"I'm not sure the company would survive without me for a week, let alone an entire month. Not without some preparations, anyway.", Pepper replied with a smile before playfully glaring at Tony and poking him in the chest, right below his arc reactor. "...and you... have a meeting on Tuesday that you can't miss. I guess we'll have to just make plans to come back.", she said, already feeling like the weekend had gone by too quickly. 

Tony kissed his kid on the cheek and smiled softly at his happy face. He would never get tired of seeing him like that. If he thought he could get away with moving to Malibu permanently. He would. Especially if it would make his kid smile like that all the time but he knew that wasn't reasonable. This place would have to remain their perfect vacation spot. "Yeah, the beach isn't going anywhere, Buddy. We'll come back. I promise."

"All of us?", Peter asked hopefully as he looked between Pepper and Tony. 

Smiling between the two eager faces, Pepper nodded her head in confirmation, "_All of us_."

That evening, they ate out at a casual seaside restaurant, where Peter had his fill of shrimp and was asleep before they ever made it back to the mansion. "Well, he's completely out.", Tony said with a laugh after trying and failing several times to get the kid to wake up enough to walk inside. "Guess I'm carrying him to bed."

Pepper smiled at the sight and looked at Tony lovingly. "You don't look like you mind.", she whispered and Tony agreed. He didn't mind.

The early morning flight back was easier than the flight there. Peter, while still slightly skittish, didn't fight it when it was time to board. He sat soundly between Pepper and Tony the entire time. As expected, he fell asleep partway there. That gave Tony the chance to tell Pepper about the phone call he'd had with the social worker at the beginning of the week. "The adoption was approved.", he whispered, not wanting to disturb the kid who was sound asleep between them.

Pepper's face lit up at the news. "That's great news! Does Peter know?", she asked because the boy hadn't said anything about it and she was sure that if he knew he would have said something. Unlike when they first met, he chattered and babbled to her all the time now. 

"I haven't told him yet. I'm going to tell him tomorrow when things are a little less... distracting.", Tony said with a laugh. The kid had been running on two speeds for the entire week. Full throttle or sound asleep. There just didn't seem to be a good time to have such a serious conversation. Once they were back home, he would be able to sit him down and really talk to him about it.

Pepper nodded her head in understanding and smiled at the little boy beside her. "That makes sense.", she said quietly. "What about his name? Are you going to change it?"

For a moment, Tony looked at Pepper with confusion. He didn't understand the question. Peter was... _Peter_ and calling him anything else felt wrong. "Why would I change his name? Peter suits him just fine.", he replied with an incredulous tone. 

"I meant his last name.", Pepper explained with a roll of her eyes. "He'll be Peter Stark after the papers are finalized, right?"

Having not even considered that, Tony stilled. "I... I don't guess I 've given that much thought.", Tony replied honestly but now all kinds of things were going through his head but he didn't really have time to sort through them before Peter began to stir between them. As he looked down, the child's peacefully slack features began to change. His brows knit together, his mouth twitched into a frown and Tony knew exactly what was happening. Sighing deeply, he placed his hand onto his little boy's shoulder and started to gently shake him. "Pete, come on, Buddy. I need you to wake up for a minute.", he insistently whispered into his kid's ear until there were two big brown eyes blinking back at him. "Are you alright?"

"Mm-hmm.", Peter replied but there was a quiver to his lip that Tony couldn't ignore. 

Tony pulled Peter out of his seat and into his lap, where the kid practically collapsed against him. "Did you have a bad dream?", he asked and Peter nodded his head into his chest. There were tears now, he could feel them soaking into his shirt. "The same one?", he continued already knowing that it was. The kid had dreamed about that damn wormhole almost as many times as he had. "I'm so sorry, Baby. We're both safe and right here together, alright?", he reassured as he added a little bit more pressure to his grasp. "I love you."

"I love you too.", Peter whispered back before drifting back to sleep, right in his daddy's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is completely irrelevant to the story but... it _snowed_ at my house this morning. I know what you're thinking... so what? It's _snow_ but here in the south-eastern US... we don't see it that often and it was _fun._ However, our kitten... cat? I guess she's almost a cat now... she's eight months... anyway... we took her out in it and she _hated it_ with a passion. Good news, Z, It's already melted and you won't see it again for _at least_ another year. 
> 
> That is all.
> 
> As always **thank you** for reading! We're almost done here. One more chapter to go. Your kudos, comments are always appreciated.


	18. Beautiful Boy, Darling Pete

For the next week, leading up to the court date, Tony contemplated what to do about the kid's name. He'd tried talking to Peter about it but the kid just agreed with every pro and con that was tossed at him. In the end, he knew it was going to have to be his decision because the seven-almost-eight-year-old didn't seem to have a passionate opinion one way or another. Although that left Tony to worry that he _would_ when he was older and he didn't want to do the wrong fucking thing.

When Tony really sat down and thought about it he knew that surnames connected you to your biological ancestry. _ Genetically_ speaking, Peter was the product of Mary Fitzgerald and Richard Parker. Though _legally_ speaking, the adoption would separate him from his natural family and graft him into his. No matter what the child's last name read, he would be a Stark by sanctioned association. Lawfully, he would be his son.

It also crossed Tony's mind that being a Parker was part of Peter's identity. He's been a Parker for his entire life. Even when his parents died and he went to go live with his aunt and uncle his name never changed but then again... there would have been no reason for it to change. The boy had already shared a name with them before they became his legal guardians. They were already linked together by consanguinity and he was hesitant to take away the last palpable part of that connection. At the same time, he didn't want the child to ever think that he didn't care enough about him to want them to share a name.

After going back and forth over the dilemma for days, Tony finally deciding that he would just hyphenate it, making his son's name Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark. The idea being that by allowing Peter to keep the surname he'd been given at birth, he was also allowing him to stay connected to his past and by adding his own, he was solidifying his child's place as a part of the Stark family. He also decided that he would keep the conversation about his name open so that the boy knew that as he grew older and more mature his opinions on the matter would always be valued. If there came a day that he wanted to drop one name or the other it would be his choice. All he wanted was for his son to know he was loved. 

The day of the actual adoption was less dramatic than he'd assumed it would be. He, Peter, Pepper, Happy, and Rhodes, who had flown in specifically for the occasion, all filed into an office where a few papers were sighed. It felt incredibly anticlimactic considering the bullshit that went into making it happen but the point was, it was done. Everything was finally fucking final and Peter was _his_. 

After the proceedings had come to a close they all climbed into their respective cars and followed Tony out of the parking lot and towards their lunch destination. Letting Peter choose had turned out to be a bad idea as they ended up at some tin can looking diner that smelled of grease and ketchup. The menus were slightly sticky and there were mustard stains on the somewhat wobbly white-topped tables. It was a far cry from cloth napkins and chandeliers but not one person complained out lout as they waited for their meals to be served to them in paper-lined red plastic baskets. 

For sub-par food, the kid seemed to devour it like it was some sort of rare treat and for a moment, Tony considered that perhaps, in a way, it was. Typically they ate at home. When they did go out they tended to end up in at least slightly more sophisticated establishments. Small locally owned cafes or expensive restaurants. They did have the occasional fast food but that was eaten either in the car or was delivered to them at the tower. He assumed that diner in particular had some sort of significance that he didn't understand. 

It only took some mild probing to find out that May and Ben had taken Peter there to get dinner and a milkshake to celebrate every single one of his report cards. It was then that Tony realized that he'd done little more than to tell the boy 'good job' when the last report card of the school year arrived in the mail. It just hadn't crossed his mind but he did make a vow to do better next time. Next time they would celebrate. Maybe not_ there_... but they would do something. They could create their own traditions. 

Once all the food had been finished and everyone was sipping at milkshakes and engaging in friendly conversation, Tony stood up and cleared his throat. While he was extremely cognizant of the other people seated near them, who were no doubt listening to him with bated breath, there were a few things he needed to say. So, it true Stark fashion, he ignored the prying eyes and started to speak. "So.", he said before clearing his throat a little. With this being such a huge milestone he knew he needed to say something and he'd been trying to figure out what the fuck that something was supposed to be for days. 

"I, uh... I just want to thank you guys for coming out to celebrate with us. It's been a crazy four months _but_ here we are.", he lamely began. He didn't know why he was having such a hard fucking time with this. He spoke in front of people all the damn time. Though never about anything so... personal. Despite that, he could feel the words he wanted to say right at the tip of his tongue. They just seemed to be stuck there. He wanted to say how he couldn't have made it through the initial transitions and adoption process without their help. He wanted to thank Pepper for putting up with his shit, taking over his company and for being so good to Peter... and himself. He wanted to tell Happy that without him, he would have never survived the first few weeks. He wanted to tell him that he was a good friend and was thankful that he was there to know what the hell he needed before he knew, himself. ...and Rhodes, god, he had so many things to say to him. From saving his ass time and time again to not telling him that he was bat shit crazy for wanting to adopt a kid but of course none of those words ever made it past his teeth. Rather, he fell to sarcasm and jokes. 

"I've got a pretty great kid here and I'm sure you're all just as shocked as I am. Let's just hope that the whole nurture vs. nature debate lands solidly on the 'nature' side because otherwise we're all screwed.", he chuckled. "Seriously, I'm glad you're all here with us because let's face it, the kid could use some _good_ role models. Just... Thank you guys for, you know... being supportive and whatnot.", he finally managed to get out but everyone seemed to read between the lines as they looked at him and at Peter, who had finished eating and was back to coloring on his paper menu. 

After receiving more than a few words of praise, Tony checked his watch and turned towards the group that was still looking at them with soft eyes and sickeningly sweet smiles. "Alright, everyone, that's enough sappy shit for one day. My son and I need to get home.", he said with a clap of his hands causing everyone to laugh. That's when he looked down at Peter and gave him a pat on the shoulder "Alright, Mr. Peter Benjamin Parker-Stark... Go give any hugs or high-fives that you want to give so we can get going, okay?"

Once they were back in the car, Tony looked in the review mirror at Peter who was still sipping on the last of his milkshake. The ride back to the penthouse was filled with chatter just the way Tony liked it but as soon as they walked through the front door, it was as if neither Peter nor Tony knew exactly what to do. For a second or two they both stood quietly in the entranceway but before things could get too awkward, Peter spoke up. "Are you going to work now, Daddy? Is Nora coming?", he asked sounding unsure.

Tony reached down and grabbed his son's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Nope. Today is our special day. I'm not doing any work. I'm staying right here."

"Cool", Peter replied with a smile. "Can we watch movies?"

"Of course, we can. As many you want.", Tony said with a wave of his hand. "Or we could play Candy Land... or both. Whatever you fancy, kid."

"Awesome.", Peter replied with awe, making Tony laugh. The kid was acting as though he'd never been allowed to pick how they spent their together before. Then again, it was the middle of a typical work week and maybe that was the difference. He didn't have time to sort it out before the child was practically bouncing on his toes in front of him. "Can we get pizza for dinner? With extra cheese?"

"If that's what you want, then sure.", Tony replied with ease even though they'd had nothing but grease for lunch and he was pretty sure that feeding his kid a healthy dinner would probably be the more responsible thing to do. However, he let that fall to the wayside. It really was their special day... always would be. They were officially a family now. "I told you, it's our special day... so, pizza it is."

"Can I stay up past my bedtime?", Peter asked dubiously and Tony chuckled out loud. He couldn't blame the kid for testing the boundaries there. He would have done the same thing. 

"Now you're pushing it.", he finally said with a smile but Peter didn't seem amused. Instead of smiling, a calculating look that Tony hadn't seen in a while was taking over his son's face.

"But it's our special day 'til midnight right?", Peter asked carefully.

"You're too smart for your own good. You know that?", Tony returned with a shake of his head. 

Peter smiled and nodded his head as he wandered towards the couch, Tony following close behind. "Mm-hmm. Uncle Ben used to say that too.", he replied as he eyed the pictures on the mantle.

"Oh yeah?", Tony said softly before pulling the boy onto the couch beside him. "What else did he say, huh?", he asked out of habit. He tried to make a point of engaging the kid on conversations about his family any time they came up. The counselor had insisted it was the healthy thing to do and to be honest, he loved to hear the boy talk about them. 

"That I was going to grow up to be as smart as you.", Peter said proudly.

"Is that so...", replied with a teasing smirk but he agreed. The kid may not have built an engine at six but he'd certainly had the mental capacity to have done so if he'd wanted to but his intellect seemed to be more creative. He was interested in inbuilding new concepts for new things. The technical prowess would come later and when it did, he decided that the world had better lookout. "Well, I think you might be even smarter than me one day."

Things got quiet after that. The movie played while Peter snuggled into Tony's side. The promised pizza was ordered and eaten in time, and at one point, they set the movies aside to play a few games. When evening finally rolled around, Peter took his bath and went to bed without protest. "Alright, Mr. Parker-Stark. Off to bed with you.", Tony said causing his son to hop up off the couch and skip towards his room.

Tony followed the boy down the hall and watched him climb under the covers. Then just before he could lean down to kiss him good-night, Peter sat up. "Hey, Daddy?", he asked sounding unsure of himself.

"Yeah, kid?", Tony asked softly as he brushed Peter's hair out of his eyes. It occurred to him that he really needed to get the boy a haircut but that was a thought for another time.

Looking up at his dad with mild trepidation, Peter sighed. "Can we go see them tomorrow? Uncle Ben and Aunt May... and Mommy and Daddy.", Peter asked and for a beat, Tony closed his eyes and thought about what that would look like. He was an adult and still had trouble visiting his parents' graves, which is probably why he just fucking didn't. Maybe that made him an asshole of a son, maybe it didn't but he wasn't going to dwell on it. He needed to focus on Peter. They'd never visited the cemetery but if his kid was ready to give it a try, then he would take him. No questions asked. Who knew, maybe it would be good for both of them.

"Sure, Buddy. We can do that.", Tony quietly replied and the next morning after confirming the plans with Peter, they got dressed and left the house. He'd thought the ride to there would be solemn but it wasn't. Peter talked and sang along with the radio while Tony laughed at the botched lyrics, just as they did any other time they were in the car together. However, as they were pulling down the gravel road that led to the back of the cemetery where the Parkers had all been laid to rest together, he heard his son's breath hitch a little. "You okay, Buddy?"

"Uh-huh.", Peter said with a sad smile as he looked out the window towards the familiar hillside.

Tony wasn't sure he believes him but he let it go. This had been Peter's idea and he wasn't going to push him one way or another. "We can stay as long as you want and put your flowers out. You just tell me when you're ready to go, okay?", he offered without censor. 

Peter took a deep breath but never turned from the window. "I just want to stay for a minute.", he said and Tony nodded his head. He still wasn't sure what this trip was about but part of him wondered if this was Peter's closure. The boy had refused to see his aunt and uncle at the wake and had been ready to leave long before the burial. This would be his first time having something tangible to associate with their passing.

"Sounds good, kiddo.", Tony replied as he stepped out of the car and went to open Peter's door. He knew how hard the visit was going to be on his son and he was really proud of him for keeping it together so well. 

"Do you want to talk to them?", Tony asked as they stood hand in hand in front of the four marked stones but Peter shook his head in the negative. "That's okay. You don't have to but I'm going to, okay?", he replied before taking a few steps towards May and Ben's graves, in particular. "Hey, uh... guys. I just wanted you to know that I've got your boy. Well, _our_ boy now... I, uh, I adopted him so that I could keep him safe...and happy.", he said with surprising ease. To have not been able to get one goddamned sentimental word out of his mouth the day before, they were flowing easily now. Maybe because he couldn't see them looking at him. "Just so you know he's, he's doing great. I know I'm really proud of him. I think you would be too."

After that, Peter... and Jojo who had come along for the ride... arranged the flowers they purchased on the way there as Tony looked on with a smile. When his kid returned to his side with tears on his cheeks, he scooped him up and for no reason other than he wanted to have him close. Then, he kissed him on his head and looked once more at the names of his two friends with a smile. "Oh and, Ben, May? Just so you know... it turns out that you were right. I'm better than I thought I was and I definitely have this. Thank you for trusting me with him.", he said before carrying his son back to the car whispering quietly in his ear, "I sure love you, Buddy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took so long to post. I have most recently been otherwise occupied, _re-writing_ the first part of a very long complicated story that I accidentally deleted like, _thousands _of words from... 😔
> 
> **and** before that I was working on an outline for the next installment in this series. I'm really looking forward to being able to write more little Peter.
> 
>   
❤💙Thanks for coming along for the ride. For all my misgivings at the start, I am extremely happy that I shared this one.💙❤  



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